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>ITY OF UNI CALIFORNIA

SCIENCES
LIBRARY

A MANUAL OF

PRECIOUS STONES
AND

ANTIQUE GEMS.

LONDON

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

THE DEVONSHIRE GEMS.

Wl
A MANUAL OP

PRECIOUS STONES
AND

ANTIQUE GEMS.

HODDER

M.
'

WESTROPP, M

ATTTHOB OF "HANDBOOK OF AECH.EOLOGY," "PEE-HISTOEIC PHASES.'

Eontton

SAMPSON LOW, MAKSTON, LOW, & SEARLE,

CROWN BUILDINGS,
188,

FLEET STREET.

1874.
[All rights
reserved.']

ENCES

PREFACE.
I

HAVE been induced

to compile, for the benefit of

amateurs

and

collectors of antique gems, a concise account of precious

stones and antique

stones,

and

also

gems those usually called hard or fine of some other stones and substances which
;

cannot be comprised under the head of precious stones, but

are frequently used in jewellery, and for ornamental
glyptic purposes.

and

In this compilation I have frequently adopted the words

of the best authorities, Dana, Bristow, Mr. Maskelyne, and

In the second part I have noticed the principal precious stones, and other substances employed for glyptic purposes, known to the ancients, and described by ancient
others.

writers,

and have attempted an

identification of

them with
which

those
I

known am much

to mineralogists of the present day, in

indebted to the writings of Mr. King and

Mr. Maskelyne. In all ages precious stones and engraved gems have been

men of taste, not only for the transcendent of colour and the brilliancy displayed in these stones, beauty but also for the art exhibited in the engravings on them.
favourites of

Even

warriors in ancient times testified their admiration of

stones.

gems and precious

Alexander the Great was a

M56315

PREFACE.
great patron of the glyptic art displayed in them, and such an admirer of gems, that he would allow no artist but

Pyrgoteles to engrave his royal countenance, and that only on an emerald. Mithridates was a great gem collector.

The gems and

precious stones acquired

first

by Pompey's con-

quest of his dominions were the

that gave the

Romans
was an
art, six

a taste for these precious objects.

enthusiastic collector of

Julius Cassar

gems and other works of

which he dedicated in the temple of his patron goddess, Venus Victrix. Augustus, Maecenas, and Hadrian, were also gem collectors: though Maecenas passionately loved
cabinets of

gems, the sight of his emeralds, beryls, and pearls, he declared, could not console him for the departure of
Horace.

Among

the

Romans

in the time of Pliny there

was quite a rage

for precious stones

and engraved gems,

Roman

prices given for

Senators outvying one another in the extravagant them. Nonius, a Roman Senator, was

content to suffer proscription and exile rather than give up

to Antonius a priceless opal

which he possessed.

In modern times we find the Medici, Frederick the

Great, Winkelman, Goethe, Visconti, devoting their attention to this exquisite branch of art.

A century ago

men

of rank and wealth in this country

were vying with each other in collecting antique gems. The Dukes of Marlborough and of Devonshire, the Duke of
Montague, the Earls of Carlisle and Besborough, and Lord Algernon Percy, were among the noblemen whom cultivated tastes induced thus to expend wealth on collections of In the last few years classical and archaeological interest.
a fresh impulse has been given to their study in England by

PREFACE.

ix

the publication of Mr. King's works on Precious Stones and

Antique Gems, and by the acquisition of a wonderful

collection, the Blacas,

by the British Museum. number of collectors of the last few years and of the

present day

may be
some

enumerated,
priceless

who

are

the fortunate

and exquisite gems. Mr. possessors Mr. Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Hertz, Townly, Payne Knight, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. King, Mr. Maskelyne, 1 Mr. Beresford
of

Hope, the Rev. C. H. Townshend,

de Luynes, the

in

England

the

Duke

Duke de
in

Blacas, the Count de Pourtales,

M.

Fould,

M. Roger,
the

France; Cardinal Antonelli and

Signer Castellani in Italy.

Among

most famous

public

collections

we may

mention the Florentine, the Berlin, the Bibliotheque, Paris,

the St. Petersburg, the Hague, the British

Museum, the

Museum, Naples

and among private, the Marlborough, the

Devonshire, the Royal.

1

Mr. Maskelyne's

collection

is

not

only remarkable for the

exquisite specimens of glyptic art it contains, but also for the beauty of the stones themselves, which have been selected with

deep mineralogical knowledge.

CONTENTS.

PRECIOUS STONES.
NON-METALLIC MINERALS.
Carbon
:

Diamond, page
Bort, 9.

1.

Carbonado,

9.

Alumina :
White Sapphire, 15. Yellow Sapphire, or Oriental
Topaz, 16.

Lemon-coloured Sapphire, or
Oriental Peridot, 17.

Blue Sapphire, 13.

Green Sapphire, or Oriental

Emerald, 16.
Sea-green
Sapphire, or Oriental Aquamarine, 17.
:

Ruby, or red Sapphire,

Star Sapphire, 17. Star Ruby, 17.
Girasol, 17.

10.

Aluminates of Magnesia
Spinel Ruby, 18. Balas Ruby, 18.

Rubicelle, 18.

Almandine, 18.
:

Aluminates of Glucina
Chrysoberyl, 19.
Silicates of

Cymophane,
:

19.

Alumina, Magnesia, Lime, Iron

Garnet, 20.
Carbuncle, 21.

Essonite, 21.

Almandine,
Siriam, 21.

21.

Hyacinthine Garnet, 21. Star Garnet, 21.

Vermeille, 21.

Pyrope, 21.

CONTENTS.
Silicates of

Alumina and Glucina

23.

Emerald,
Beryl, 25.

Yellow Beryl, 25. Euclase, 25.

Aquamarine, 25.
Silicates of Alumina

and Fluorine

White Topaz, 26. Yellow Topaz, 26.

Blue Topaz, or Brazilian Sapphire, 26.
Silicates of

Pink Topaz,

26.

Magnesia

Chrysolite, 27.
Peridot, 27.
Silicate of Alumina, Magnesia,
lolite, 30.

Olivine, 28.

and Iron

Silicates of Zirconia

White Jargoon,

28.

Ked

Yellow Jargoon, 28. Green Jargoon, 28.

Silicates of

Jargoon, Hyacinth, 28.

or

Jacinth-

Alumina with Boracic Acid

Yellow Tourmaline, 30. Green Tourmaline, 30.

Silicate of Alumina
:

Red Tourmaline,

or Eubellite, 29.

Blue Tourmaline, or Indicolite, 30.

Kyamte,
Silicates of

31.
:

Alumina, Potash, Soda

Moonstone, 31.
Sunstone, 31.
Silicate of

Amazon

Stone, 31.

Alumina, Magnesia, Lime

Hyperstene, 32.
Silicate of Lime,

Magnesia

Diopside, 32.
Silicate

of Alumina, Iron, Lime, Magnesia:

Idocrase, 32.

CONTENTS.
Silicate of

Lime, Magnesia, Iron

Crocidolite, 31.
Silicate of Alumina, Soda,

Lime with Sulphur

Lapis Lazuli, 32.

Silicate of Magnesia (hydrous)
:

Noble Serpentine,

33,

Silicate of Magnesia (anhydrous)

Jade, Nephrite, 33.

Silicate of Alumina

and Magnesia

Jadeite, 34.
Silicates of Alumina,

Lime, Soda :
Obsidian, 35.
:

Labrador, 35.
Silicate of

Alumina and Potash

Agalmatolite, 35.
Silicate of Magnesia
:

Steatite, 36.

Sulphate of Lime
Selenite, 36.

Phosphate of Alumina

Turquoise, blue, green, 36.

Bone, coloured

"by

copper

Odontolite, or

Bone Turquoise,

37.

SILICA.

Vitreous Quartz

Eock Crystal
Citrine, 42.

40.

Iris, 42.

Amethyst, 40.
Cairngorm, or Yellow Quartz, 41.

Eubasse, 42.
Avanturine, 42.
Prase, 43.

CONTENTS.
Chalcedonic Quartz:

Chalcedony (White or Grey), 43. Sapphirine, or Blue Chalcedony, 43.

Carnelian, 44.

Heliotrope, 47.

Agate, 47.

Moss Agate, 49. Ribbon Agate, 49.

Light Eed, 44.

Eye Agate,

49.

Dark Red,
Sard, 44.

44.

Fortification Agate, 49.

Sardonyx, 45.

Zoned or Banded Agate, 49. Brecciated Agate, 49.

Jasper Agate, 46.

Onyx, 44.
Chalcedonyx, 45.

Mocha

Jasper Onyx, 46.

Nicolo, 46.

Stone, 49. Cat's Eye, 50.

Chrysoprase, 50.

Plasma, 46.
Jaspery Qua/rtz
Jasper, 50.
:

Ribbon or Banded Jasper,

Bloodstone, 51. Porcellanite, or
Jasper, 52.

51.

Eed

Jasper, 51.

Yellow Jasper, 51. Green Jasper, 51.

Porcelain

Egyptian Pebble,

51.

Hydrous SiUca

Opal, 38. Noble or Precious Opal, 38.

Matrix of Opal,
Fire Opal, 39.
Hyalite, 39.

39.

Harlequin Opal, 38. Golden Opal, 38.

Hydrophane,

39.

Common

Opal, 38.

Cacholong, 39.

METALLIC MINERALS.
Iron
:

Magnetite, 52.
Haematite, 52.

Marcasite, 52.

Copper

Dioptase, 52. Silicate of Copper.

Azurite, 53.

Blue Carbonate of Copper.

Malachite, 53.

Green Carbonate of Copper.

CONTENTS.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

xvi

CONTENTS.

A MANUAL OF

PKECIOUS STONES
AND

ANTIQUE GEMS.
THE DIAMOND:
THE diamond
in

pure carbon crystallized. It is found both regular crystalline forms, and in an amorphous state.
is

(i)

Crystals of the Diamond.

1

The
1

crystals are principally octahedrons and dodecahedrons.

According to Professor Goeppert, (" On the Vegetable Nature of Diamonds,") experiments show that diamonds cannot be produced by Plutonic agency, as they become black when subjected to a high degree of temperature. That they are, on the contrary, of Neptunian origin, and were at one time in a soft condition, is proved not only

PRECIOUS STONES.
The most famous mines of India were those of Golconda, the territory of the Nizam; and at Raolcondal, near
Diamonds
also occur in

in

Visiapoor, in the Mahratta empire. Bundelcund, near Panna, and in the

far the largest quantity are,

Mahanuddy, near

Ellore.

however, now imported By into Europe from the Brazils. They are found mostly in alluvial soil derived from the materials brought down from
the

bordering the higher parts of the valleys in the Cerro di Fria, Minas Geraes, and San Paulo, and 2 in the beds of rivers.
hills

district of

'

,
(

fc

ihb' impression of grains of sand and crystals on the surface of them, .but also by the enclosure of certain foreign bodies, such as of '.otJ4erf dry-stals, ^germinating fungi, and even vegetable structures a higher organization. If Professor Goeppert's conclusions be accepted, confirming and extending as they do the views held by Newton, Brewster, and Liebig, diamonds seem to be the final product of Professor the chemical decomposition of vegetable substances. " The Morris writes, however (" On Gems and Precious Stones "), matter derived from that the diamond has been organic supposition must not be adopted too hastily. The crystallized carbon may have been produced by condensation from a state of vapour, or by the gradual displacement of carbon, from its combination with chlorine

by

sulphur by some other element, or, as suggested by Professor There is another direction iu Maskelyne in the following passage which the production of the diamond may be looked for. It is well known that iron, when surcharged with carbon, though it may dissolve it in a state of fusion, deposits the excess of carbon when it Some other metal, or some cools, but in the graphitic modification. change in the conditions with the same metal, might cause the ex" In illustration of trusion of the carbon in the form of diamond/ this suggestion, Mr. Morris exhibited a fine specimen of crystallized graphite, prepared by Mr. David Forbes from its solution in iron The varieties of at a high temperature, and subsequently cooling. crystalline forms would infer a slow process and freedom of motion among the molecules, due to a viscous state. 2 Until lately the diamond had never been traced to its matrix, but this has now been done in at least two instances in Brazil. The first was in 1839, and the rock which contained it was described by
or
'
:

THE DIAMOND.
Brazilian diamonds are of different specific gravity the Indian, and are inferior in lustre and brilliancy. Diamonds of the best quality come from Borneo (Sarawak).
to

The

Diamonds are

also found in the gravels

and sands of valleys

in Australia

and water-courses, on the sides of mountains, and in South Africa.

The Cape diamonds

inferior quality,

and

to

lately imported are said to be of an have a greasy, oily look. Yellow is

the prevailing colour.

The diamond has been

estimation.
to its

in all ages held in the highest

Its brilliancy

and play of colour

is

attributed

and reflecting powers, and it was the observation of these properties which led Newton to infer it
high refractive

was combustible, a conclusion which was verified in the same year (1693) by the Florentine Academy. The diamond
possesses also the property of flashing out the colour of the rainbow, which a piece of the heavy glass used to counterfeit

the diamond possesses

to, at least,

as effective a degree.

It

becomes phosphorescent on exposure to the light, and the smaller diamonds become phosphorescent by a much shorter

The most valuable exposure than those of larger size. diamonds are perfectly colourless, and are then said to be
of the purest water.
sive, blue,

The

colour suite

is,

however, extenIt occurs

3 green, pink, yellow, brown, and black.

also opalescent.

M. P. Chasseau as gres psammite, a sort of sandy freestone, the The dislocality being the Serro de Santantonio de Grammagoa.
it many diamonds, as the rock was but deeper it became harder, and consequently, more difficult to work. (King, "Precious Stones," page 59.) Professor Maskelyne also writes " In Brazil it has been traced to its rock home in itacolumite (a micaceous quartzose schist often containing talcose minerals and intersected by quartz veins) and also in a hornblende, also continuous with the itacolumite." 3 M. Gallardo Bastant, who has much studied the origin of precious

coverers of the deposit took from

soft,

B.2

PRECIOUS STONES.
the hardest known substance, a diamond is very a brittle; slight blow struck in the direction of the plane of

Though

cleavage,

would have the

is

effect

of causing

it

to split*
its

The diamond
the size.

valued

according to

weight

in

carats (3| grains each), the value rising very rapidly with

or rosettes,

Diamonds, when cut, are called and table diamonds.

brilliants, rose

diamonds
is

Of

these the brilliant

the most esteemed, as it displays the lustre of the stone to the greatest advantage.

In a brilliant, the table is the upper surface, the girdle i.s the broadest part of the stone, and should be at one-third of the whole depth, the portion above it being the bezel; the
culet
is

the base, and should be two-thirds below the girdle,

the whole depth of the stone being equal to the width across the girdle. Rose diamonds have triangular facets over the surface of the stone, the under side being flat.

Lasque diamonds are the

flat

thin stones used

much

in

stones, has

communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Paris his

opinion in regard to the change of colour in the diamond produced " by heat. "The yellow diamond," he says, is a compound of carbon and the fluoride of aluminium, and its yellow colour is changed into

which

observed with the topaz, fluoric acid, the yellow colour of which also changes to rose-colour at an elevated temperature. This change of colour is due to the absorption of carbonic
rose-colour.
is

The same phenomenon

is

a compound of aluminium,

silex,

and

acid,

A
1

and analysis shows traces of this gas." green diamond is the rarest of all gems. carats) sold lately at Mr. Hancock's for 300Z,

small one (about

late

The large rose-tinted brilliant belonging to the Brunswick sold at the sale, of his things for 2824L

Duke

of

4 This gem being composed of infinitely thin laminae deposited over each other in a direction parallel to the faces of the primitive crystal, it can be easily split by a blow of a knife in the direction of

these laminee.

(King,

" Precious Stones," p. 49.)

THE DIAMOND.
native

Indian work,
art of cutting

in

neck and head-bands,

bangles,

rings, &c.

The

and polishing diamonds was discovered

by Louis van Berguen, a citizen of Bruges, in 1456, previously to which time the diamond was only known in its
rough, or in
cutting
is

its

cleaned state.

At

the present day the

effected chiefly

by the

Jews of Amsterdam.

The diamond was sometimes, but very rarely engraved. In the Paris Exhibition, 1867, was a ring Avith an engraved diamond, said to be by Jacopo da Trezzo. In the Royal
Collection
is

the signet ring of Charles II.,

when Prince

of

Wales, bearing the device the ostrich plumes between the letters C. P., very neatly cut, upon a large yellow diamond,
a table
to

Jxf

in diameter.

The

Cavalier Costanza

is

said

have made several engravings upon the diamond in the Mr. King gives a notice of beginning of the last century.

three engraved diamonds in the possession of Messrs. Hunt and Roskell.

Small natural crystals, of the octahedral form, have been

occasionally found, set in sixteenth-century rings, used for writing on glass, &c.

The

largest

dia-

mond
is

of which there
is

any record

that

described by
'

Taver-

nier as belonging to

Great Mogul. According to him, it

the
is

a very high rose

diamond, and weighing

The Great Mogul.

280

carats.

When
Taverbe-

Mirgimola,
(4.)

iiier

writes,

who

PRECIOUS STONES.
Mogul, his master, made a present* of Shah Sehan, with whom he took refuge, it

trayed the Great

this stone to

was

in the rough,

and weighed then 787J carats. Another diamond,

brated for
its

cele-

size, is

that

of the Rajah of Mattam, in Borneo. It is of a pearin the

shaped form, and weighs rough 367 carats.

sea

The Darya-i-Noor, of light, the gem

or

of

the Persian collection, is a stone of 186 carats.

Another fine diamond in the same collection is the Crown of the Moon, 146
carats.

The
The Mattam.
(5.)

following are the

most celebrated diamonds

Europe

The Russian

or OrloiF diaIt has the

is

mond, 194i carats. under side flat, and

It

rose-cut.

was bought by the Empress

II.

Catherine

for 90,0007.,
It
is

and
said
The
Orloff.
(6.)

a pension of 40007.

to have formed one of the eyes of an idol in a Brahmin temple.

It is now in the Russian Imperial The Austrian diamond, 139| carats.

sceptre.
It is yellow, rather

thick, and is covered with facets, pointed both at top and bottom
;

like a rose
it is

diamond, being valued at 40,0007.

THE DIAMOND.
The Regent or Pitt diamond, 136| carats. It was bought by the Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France, of Pitt, the
Governor of Fort St. George, It was found in Golconda. crown jewels.
in the

year 1717, for 135,0007.

It forms part of the

French

The The
Austria

Pigott.

The Hope Diamond

(10.)

The Regent.

(9.)

PRECIOUS STONES.
The Piggott diamond, 82J
lottery in
carats,

was disposed of

l.y

brilliant, formerly the property of the late Mr. Hope, is of a most brilliant It is valued at 30,000/. sapphire blue.

London (1801) for 30,000/. The Hope diamond, 44J carats. This

The Xassack diamond

carats, re-cut as a brilliant,
carats, captured

(the

Marquis of Westminster), 893f

78f from the Peishin the

wah of the Mahrattas. The Star of the South,

rough,
brilliant,

254|- carats, cut

as

124i

carats,

found at

the Bogageni mine, Brazil. It has been Star of South Africa, 46J carats. valued at 20,000/. It is now in the possession of Messrs
(io.)

TheNassack.

The

of modern times is the which became the property of the Queen of England on the annexation of the Punjaub by the East India Company in 1850. It is reputed to be 4000 years old by Indian tradition. It is said to have belonged to the Rajah of Mjayin 60 B.C., and to have remained in the possession of his successors until India was subdued by the
Koh-i-noor,
It is mentioned by Tavernier in 1665, as the the of Great Mogul. It was called the Koh-i-noor, property When brought to this country itor " Mountain of light." The carats. 186^ beauty of this stone being weighed

Hunt and Roskell. The most celebrated diamond

Mohammedans.

greatly marred by

its

manner
it.

in

which

it

had been

irregularity of form, and the imperfect cut, it was determined to re-cut

This was skilfully and successfully accomplished, under the care of Messrs. Garrard, by two workmen from the great atelier of Mr. Foster of Amsterdam. Although the weight

THE DIAMOND.
of the stone has been reduced from 186i to 103f carats,
its

brilliancy and general been appearance have

greatly improved. In addition to

its

value as
stone, the

a precious

diamondjs

employed for engraving and cutting glass,

in splinters for drill-

to ing, arid, reduced powder, for polishing

and

cutting gems. This kind, which consists of fragments of

Koh-i-noor betore re-cutting.

diamond too small for jewellery, is termed

(1 1.)

Bort.

Carbonado

is

a term applied to an

amorphous,
imperfectly
lized

black,
crystal-

variety

which

comes from the province of Bahia, Brazil.

It

is

said

to

occupy a position between diamond and

anthracite.

Koh-i-noor after re-cutting.

(12.)

10

PRECIOUS STONES.

THE KUBY.
the oriental topaz, the oriental ruby, the sapphire, are pure crystallized alumina, oriental the amethyst, emerald, and are all classed under the

THE

name of corundum.

They

are
dif-

identical in every particular,

fering only in colour. The ruby is said to be tinted

by the peroxide of iron, the sapand the phire by the protoxide,

violet tint

may

possibly be pro-

duced by an admixture of manoccur ganese with the iron. They

crystallized
in

variously

termi-

nated hexagonal prisms, and in

rolled masses,

and are generally found in beds of rivers, or assois

ciated with crystalline rocks. The ruby or red sapphire

considered, next

to

the

diamond, the most precious of all gems.

size,

When

good colour, and free from flaws, it diamond itself in value. Rubies are for the most part

of a large exceeds even the

small,

seldom exceeding eight or ten carats. The specific gravity is 3'9 to 4*1, its hardness superior to any known substance It is except diamond, being numbered 9 in Moh's scale.

THE RUBY.

11

composed of alumina, and coloured by traces of metallic

oxides, chrome, &c.

Alumina Oxide of Lime

98'5
I'O

iron

....

0*5

The
to

colour of the ruby varies from the lightest rose-tint

the deepest carmine. The colour most prized is a rich and lovely crimson known as the " pigeon's blood," but
its

scarlet tints
;

are also beautiful.

It

is

never a large

whereas the sapphire occurs in very considerable masses, a ruby above the size of three carats is worth more than a diamond of the same weight. The finest stones are
stone
for

found in the sands of rivers in Ceylon and in the Capelan

mountains, near Siriam, a city in Pegu. The ruby mines of Burmah, whence come the finest stones, have been long
famous.

They

are

said

to

be situated about sixty or

seventy miles from the capital, in a north-easterly direction.

These mines are rigorously guarded, no European being allowed to approach them on any pretence. They are a

The King royal monopoly. of Burmah is said to retain

for his

own

use the rarest and

finest specimens.
titles is

One of his the " Lord of Rubies."

The largest known ruby is that mentioned by Chardin, on

which was engraved 'the name
of Sheik Sephi.
the

Another, also belonging to Shah of Persia, a draw-

Ruby

of the

Shah of

Persia.

(14.)

ing of which has been given bv Tavernier, weighed 175 < The King of Burcarats.

12

PRECIOUS STONES.
is

mah
egg-

said

to

possess

a ruby as

large

as a pigeon's

Europe is that presented the of to III., Sweden, Czarina, upon his visit to her in 1777. It is equal in bulk to a small hen's egg, and is of fine colour.
by Gustavus
very large one is in the French crown jewels. It adorns the order of the Golden Fleece, and is cut into the

The

largest ruby ever seen in

form of a dragon with extended wings. 5

Duke of Brunswick's jewels (April, 1874), a cut out of a single ruby of immense size, was sold to M. Achard, of Paris, for 15,000 francs (600?) It was taken from the summer palace of Pekin on the sacking of that place by the French troops, and was purchased by the Duke on the return of the expe5

At the

sale of the

Chinese

idol,

dition

from China. The stone was not to say of remarkable purity, but the workmanship of the image was excellent.

THE SAPPHIRE.

13

THE SAPPHIRE.
THE
ruby,
iron.

sapphire
it

is

the blue variety of corundum. Like the of alumina coloured pure composed by oxide of
is
it

In hardness
all

is

occurs of

tints

and shades of blue.

It equal to that of the ruby. Jewellers have

divided them into two kinds, the male and female, the first being' of a deep indigo colour, and the second a light blue.

The latter is also sometimes termed a water sapphire. The colour which approximates to blue velvet of the shade " bleu de roi " is the most valuable. The formerly called
sapphire occurs generally in crystals of much larger size than the ruby. This stone is chiefly brought from Ceylon

and Pegu.
the

The largest Musee de

sapphire known, weighing 132 carats, is in Mineralogie, Paris. It has been called the

"Wooden-Spoon Sellers," from the occupation of the man who found it in Bengal. It is also called the " Ruspoli,"
after a former owner.

It is lozenge-shaped with six faces, and was bought by Pcrret, a Parisian jeweller, for 170,000 francs (6800/.). A statuette of Buddha, about an inch high, carved out of one entire and perfect sapphire, is in

.the Mineralogical

Department of the British Museum.

Among
is

the sapphires famous for their historical interest that in the Lennox or Darnley jewel, belonging to her

Majesty.

This historic

relic is a

pendant golden heart,

set

14

PRECIOUS STONES.
Its date
is

with a heart-shaped sapphire.

it

about Io7o, and

Margaret Douglas whose husband and Earl of Lennox and Darnley, Mary's the son, Regent them to their ends by murder. of both came consort,
for that

was made

Another, not less interesting, is the sapphire which, set as a ring, was at the moment of Queen Elizabeth's death,

when all the doors were window by Lady Scrope

closed by order,
to her brother,

thrown out of a

Robert Gary, son of Lord Hunsdon, and later Earl of Monmouth, who at once took horse to Scotland and presented the token to James

VI. in proof of the truth of that

the
star,
first tidings.

It

now

fact, of which he brought forms the centre of a diamond

and

is

in the possession of the Countess of

Cork and

of Charlemagne, which was found neck of the Emperor on the opening of the from suspended his sepulchre in 1166, has two large rough sapphires, and a portion of the Holy Cross in the centre, set round with

Orrery.

The Talisman

gems.

It

was presented

to

Aix-la-Chapelle. the late Emperor, Louis Napoleon III. In the centre of the cross on the summit of the Imperial State Crown of England is a rose-cut sapphire, which
tradition says

It afterwards

Napoleon by the clergy of came into the possession of

came out of the famous ring of Edward the Confessor, so long treasured up on his shrine, and the heritage of which gave his successors the miraculous power
of blessing the cramp-rings.

In the front of the crown

is

large, broad-spread sapphire (partly drilled), the crown by his Majesty King George IV.

purchased for

superb sapphire, engraved with the heads of Henry IV. and Marie de Medicis, face to face, signed 1605, by
Coldore, the gem portrait-painter of Queen Elizabeth, was M. T. F. Leturq of Paris. lately in the collection of

In the Duke of Brunswick's collection lately sold at

THE SAPPHIRE.

15

Geneva was an engraved sapphire ring, bearing the royal arms of England, which once belonged to Mary, Queen of
Scots.

The sapphire was

the

stone

generally

used

for

the

Episcopal ring, as prescribed

6 by Pope Honorius.

In the

Londesborough collection is an Episcopal ring, gold, with sapphire, French work of the twelfth century. It was found
in the tomb of Thierry, Bishop of Verdun, 1165. The ring of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, was a

massive plain gold ring set with a sapphire.

"

The word

sapphire," according to some, appears to come from the Syriac saphilali, ,the name in that language of the sapphire. The sapphire, in Greek sappheiros, M. Maskelyne writes,

was the name applied by the Greeks and Romans to what we call lapis lazuli. But it is obviously a word foreign to
the Greek tongue. According to the Talmud, the tables 01 the law were fashioned of sappir ; the word is connected

with the roots from which are derived the Hebrew terms for a
book,
writing,
it

engrave, but

and

this

may

This root is "safar," to or engraving. seems also to have the meaning " to shine," be the source of the application of the name

sappir to a precious stone.

WHITE SAPPHIRE.
White sapphire is the pure
colourless crystallized alumina,

6 The writer of an article on Finger-Kings in the " British Quarterly Eeview" (July, 1874), says, "In 1194 the fashion of the episcopal ring was settled by Pope Innocent III., who ordained that it should be of- solid gold, and set with a precious stone, on which nothing was to be cut. The stones usually chosen were the ruby,

indicating glory, the emerald, for tranquillity and happiness, and cardinal's ring is set with a crystal, for simplicity and purity.

sapphire to denote the high-priesthood, and assigned to him."

is

given

when a

title is

16

PRECIOUS STONES.

generally, however, exhibiting a faint blue tint, which is sometimes expelled by heat. When cut and polished, from its brilliancy it has been passed as a diamond. It is also
called

Lux

Sapphire.

ORIENTAL TOPAZ.

The

oriental topaz is a

name given by
It
is

jewellers to the

generally of a pale yellow variety straw yellow, but sometimes exhibits a beautiful golden tint, and almost equals the diamond in brilliancy, for which

of corundum.

Some good specimens set frequently mistaken. in the Townsheud are S.K.M. collection, rings
it

is

in

ORIENTAL AMETHYST.

The

violet variety of

corundum

is

termed the oriental

amethyst.

It

is

often formed

by a mixture of ruby and

It may be distinguished sapphire in the same crystal. from the ordinary amethyst by its superior brilliancy and It is a gem of rare play, as well as by its hardness.

occurrence.

Jewellers

frequently confound
fine

it

with the
from

ordinary amethyst. the Hope collection,

A
is

specimen

set in a ring,

in the

Townshend

collection,

S.K.M.

ORIENTAL EMERALD.

The
but
it

oriental emerald

lacks the rich hues

it

which

is

the green variety of this species, of the splendid mineral after It is lustrous, but the true emerald. named,
is

almost invariably of an extremely pale hue.' It is said to be the rarest of all gems ; there are some fine specimens in In the British Museum are the Grime Gewolbe, Dresden.

two specimens of

this rare stone.

The author

also possesses

a small one of a deep green colour.

THE SAPPHIRE.
ORIENTAL AQUAMARINE.

17

The

oriental

When

the green

aquamarine is a greenish-blue sapphire. is of an olive tint, it 'is termed an oriental

peridot.

STAR SAPPHIRE.

The
is

star sapphire, or, as

it

is

sometimes

called, asteria,

in

formed from the more opaque kind of stones, which when the boss form (or en cabochon\ exhibits a six-rayed star

corresponding in the direction of the rays with the direction " of those planes along which the crystal may be " cleaved
as nearly

Care or easily split. as possible

is

in

taken to get the centre of the star the middle of the stone. Star

sapphires are generally of a pale blue, sometimes nearly white, but when these stones possess a fine blue colour,
large prices have been obtained for them.
'

STAR EUBY.
a similar stone to the above, but of a ruby red colour. It generally occurs of a smaller size than the
star
is

The

star sapphire,

and

is

much

rarer.

These stones are much

All these star stones come from Ceylon. In the Townshend collection, S.K.M., are some good specimens of these stones. valued in the east.

GIRASOL SAPPHIRE.
girasol sapphire is a stone similar to the above, which shows a glimmering light on the surface. Sapphir

The

chatoyant
stone,

is

name given by French

jewellers to a similar

which displays very

brilliant pearly reflections

on a

red or blue ground.

OPALESCENT SAPPHIRE.
This sapphire cent reflections.
is

of a milky white

tint,
is

fine

example

in

exhibiting opalesthe Geological

Museum, Jermyn

Street.

18

PRECIOUS SI ONES.

PRECIOUS SPINELS.
precious varieties of spinels, which comprise a large mineralogical group, consist essentially of alumina, combined

THE

with magnesia, and tinted, perhaps, with

iron.

They

generally occur in octahedral crystals. These are the spinel ruby, the balas ruby, the almandine ruby, and the rubicelle. They are found in Ceylon, Siam, Pegu, and other
eastern countries, in rolled pebbles, in the beds of rivers. The spinel ruby is a scarlet variety of considerable fire, and

of a rich colour.
colour,

The

balas ruby
tint

is

of a delicate rose-pink
Its

showing a blue

when looked through.

name

is

said to be derived from Beloochistan,

anciently

Balastan.

Both these stones are termed rubies by jewellers, and deeper tinted kinds are sometimes sold for the true ruby. They may be readily distinguished from the Oriental
and
or true ruby by inferior hardness, and specific gravity; also by the crystallization, which is of an octahedral

form.

Many

of the famous stones that pass

under the

name of

rubies belong to this species.

The famous ruby

said to have been given to Edward Prince of Wales, the Black Prince, by Don Pedro of Castile, after the battle of Nagara, A.D. 1307, and now in the Imperial State Crown of

Almandine is the name applied to is a spinel. the variety which sometimes occurs with a tint containing more blue than the balas ruby, and approaching the almanRubicelle is a name given to the dine garnet in hue.
England,
orange-red variety.

THE CHRYSOBERYL.

19

THE CHRYSOBERYL.
THE
chrysoberyl,
is

called

also

by jewellers the Oriental

a compound of alumina and the oxide glucina. chrysolite, It belongs to the rhombic system of crystallization. It of a and occurs sometimes greenish-yellow colour, usually
of a yellowish-brown hue.
is
it

It

is

a very brilliant gem, and

sometimes used in jewellery.

In brilliancy and trans-

nearly equals the diamond, while in hardness it parency is very nearly the rival of the sapphire. It is found in

of rivers.

Brazil and Ceylon, in rolled pebbles, in the alluvial deposits fine specimen of this stone, for which Mr.

Hertz
is

is

said to

among the

have received 300 guineas from Mr. Hope, recent acquisitions of the mineral department

of the British Museum.

CYMOPHANE.
a term given by French jewellers to the Cymophane mineral species of the chrysoberyl, which, when cut en caboclion, exhibits like a drop of water, or the pupil of an
is

eye,

on

its

moving about inside it, and also a band of light floating surface. Its name is derived from Kv/*a, a wave, and
to appear.

<a/w,

This variety

is

also called the chryso-

Fine specimens of this stone may be seen beryl cat's-eye. in the Townshend and Beresford Hope Collections in the

South Kensington Museum.

c 2

20

PRECIOUS STONES.

THE GARNET.
PRECIOUS lime, and
Brazil,

garnets
iron,

are

silicates

of

alumina,

magnesia,

hedral crystals,

and are mostly found in rhombic dodecain granite or mica slate. Ceylon, Pegu,

"

The word and Bohemia, supply these stones. is said to be derived from granaticus, as its pregarnet"
seed of the

vailing colour resembles that of the

pome-

granate.

Crystals of Garnet.

(16)

From the brilliancy and much used in jewellery.

There are many
guished by
their colour,

richness of their colour, they are

varieties of this stone,

which

are distin-

and also by the difference of their

THE GARNET.
chemical composition.

21

Of

these, the best

known

are the

almandine, the siriam, the essouite, the hyacinthine, the pyrope, the guarnaccino. The most esteemed kind is the siriam, or oriental garnet,
so called from Siriam, a city of Pegu, it being formerly the chief mart for the finest garnets. The colour ranges from the deepest crimson to a violet purple, in some instances

the red colour rivalling the finest oriental amethyst being due to the presence of protoxide of iron, and the
;

violet to

manganese.
is

The almandine

violet or amethystine tint.

an alumina iron garnet of a beautiful The word " almandine" is said to

be a corruption of Pliny's alabandine, a term applied to the garnet from its being cut and polished at Alabanda.
essonite, or cinnamon-stone, is an alumina lime of a cinnamon or reddish-yellow tint. garnet The hyacinthine garnet is of a dark orange-red tint. It
is

The

frequently confounded

by jewellers and some

writers,

with the true hyacinth or red zircon.

The pyrope
is

or Bohemian garnet (a variety oi iron garnet) a deep blood red, and of a fiery character, hence it is
fire

sometimes also called

garnet.

It is found in

Bohemia

Saxony, and other parts of Germany. Guarnaccino is the Italian name for the brownish-red
garnet.

The
-colour.

vermeille, or vermillion garnet,

is

of an orange-red

Carbuncle

is

the

name given
;

in jewellery to the garnet,

is

when

to say of a boss form, usually hollowed out underneath to allow the colour of the stone to be seen.

cut en caboclwn

that

The
lield in

star garnet is a variety of this species, which,

when

the sun, shows a star, or rather a cross on the sur-

22

PRECIOUS STONES.
having the appearance of having been scratched on the

face,

stone.

Small cups are occasionally made in India from the larger crystals of this stone, which sometimes occur the size
of a
fist.

THE EMERALD.

23

THE EMERALD.
is a silicate of alumina and glucina, which, some by mineralogists, owes to a little chromium the transcendent green which characterizes it. 7 It crystal-

THE

emerald

it is

said

p. 125), the

Until very lately, Mr. Bristowe writes ("Glossary of Mineralogy," colouring matter of the emerald was supposed to be due

to the presence of one or

has, however,

two per cent, of oxide of chromium. This been proved to be incorrect by Mr. Lewy's recent chemical investigations into the formation and composition of the emerald of Muzo. The quantity of chromic oxide obtained by analysis was so small as to be inappreciable, in fact, too minute to be weighed separately, and the beautiful tint of the emerald is shown by M. Lewy to be produced by an organic substance, which he considers to be a carburet of hydrogen, similar to that chlorophylle which constitutes the colouring-matter of the leaves of plants. Those emeralds are of the darkest tint which contain the greatest amount of organic matter, and the colour is completely destroyed at a low red heat, which renders the stone white and opaque, while, on the other hand, heat produces no loss of colour in those minerals which are coloured

by oxide of chrome, breaking readily at right angles to the axis of the prism. The emeralds, when first extracted from the mine at Muzo, are so soft and fragile that the largest and finest specimens can be reduced to powder merely by rubbing them between the fingers, and the crystals often crack and fall to pieces after being removed from the mine, apparently from loss of water, as the chrome
garnet Uwarovite. The organic colouring matter of the emerald is probably derived from the decomposition of the animals whose remains are now found fossilized in the rock which forms the matrix of
the stone.

Besides the organic colouring-matter M.

Lewy

obtained

from 1*65 to 2*15 of water, from which he has arrived at the conclusion that emeralds have been formed in the wet way, that is to say, that they have deposited from a chemical solution.

24

PRECIOUS STONES.
in

lizes

hexagonal prisms, with the sides striated longiIt is rarely found without a flaw, and is tudinally.
extremely
the
brittle.

It ranks next
It

ruby in value. sionally shows a star

of which there
is

occa-

in the sec-

tion,

an example
in

in the

Townshend

collection

the South Kensington Museum. The stones of the finest colour are

found

at

Muzo,

in

New

Granada, near Santa Fe de Bogota, in a calcareous rock.

crystal of Emerald.
(17.)

of

Indian 'emeralds are generally a pale green, and full of

flaws. They are said to come from the mountains of Canjargum, in the Deccan, which have also yielded an abundant supply of beryls. In the Loan Exhibition of 1872 were some oriental

emeralds, set as drop earrings, contributed by her Majesty the Queen. They are remarkable for their size, the stones
are uncut, but polished over the surface and pierced. The mines of Ekaterinberg in Siberia furnish emeralds

of superior quality.
of the

The emerald said to be the largest known is the property Duke of Devonshire it measures 2 inches in height,
:

and 2i across. It weighs 8 oz., 18 dwts. It is reported to have been brought to this country by Don Pedro, and was found at Muzo.
This is surpassed, however, by a magnificent stone in the possession of Duleep Singh, which is three inches long, two Mr. Eastwick mentions an wide, and half an inch thick.
emerald in the Persian collection as big as a walnut, covered with the names of kings who had possessed it.

THE EMERALD.

25

ALL emerald \\ X 1J inches was exhibited by Harry Ernanuel at the Exhibition 1862. vinaigrette in the

Hope

collection

is

carved out of two large emeralds.

THE BERYL.
The beryl is of the same chemical composition as the emerald, and comprises two varieties, the aquamarine, of a The crystalpale azure or sea-green tint, and the yellow. lization is the same as that of the emerald. Indian beryls
are from Canjargum, in the Deccan. Crystals of beryls of enormous size are found in North America. One beryl

from Grafton, N. A., weighs 2900 Ibs. it is 32 inches in one direction, and 22 in another, transverse, and is 4 feet 3
;

inches long.

Some

fine

specimens are found in Siberia, in the Mourne

Mountains, Co.

Down,

in

Bohemia, Elba, and Brazil.

Aquamarines are frequently employed in jewellery, in An aquamarine, said to bracelets, necklaces, brooches, &c.
be the largest known, set as a sword-hilt, which formerly belonged to Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is in the Beres-

Hope collection, S.K.M. Another equally large, if not larger, is in the possession of Mr. Hancock, Bond Street. It measures 2| x 2f inches. There is a large crystal of beryl in the British Museum.
ford

The name is derived from Romans into b'ryllus.

the Persian belur, changed

by the

EUCLASE.

The
and

euclase

is

also of the
is

the emerald.

It

brittleness, it

same chemical composition as of a pale blue colour. From its rarity It is, howis never used in jewellery.
It
is

ever, susceptible of a high polish. Brazil.

found in Peru and

26

PRECIOUS STONES.
TOPAZ.

The The
the

topaz consists of a fluo-silicate of alumina, crystal-

lizing in

rhombic prisms with striated sides. topaz has been divided by jewellers into two kind?, oriental and occidental. The oriental is the yellow

sapphire, and the occidental a fluo-silicate of alumina. The occidental topaz may be divided into three varieties, the yellow, the blue, and the white. The yellow, the prevailing tint, passes from a pale

yellow to a rich orange

Saxony.

(18)

Brazil.

(19.)

Siberia.

(20.)

Crystals of Topaz.

colour.

topaz.

Some jewellers call this deep orange tint an oriental The finest of these come from Villa Rica, Brazil.
also furnishes topazes of a pale yellow, bordering on

Saxony

canary colour.

They
Siberia,
in the

are
in

found also
Scotland, in

Asia Minor, Ceylon, Pegu, Aberdeenshire, and in Ireland,

in
is

Mourne Mountains.
blue comes from Brazil, and

The

sometimes called the

Brazilian sapphire. The white is a colourless variety found at Minas

Novas

SILICATES.
in Brazil,

27

a name by which this kind

is

called in that

country.

The
d'

In lustre the white topaz surpasses rock crystal. purest varieties are called Gouttes d'Eau (Pingos
is
:

Agua). In the pink topaz this colour orange topaz to a low red heat

it

produced by exposing the is sometimes termed the

Brazilian ruby. The pink variety is, however, sometimes found in nature. The word " topaz " is derived from Topazios, the name of an island in the Red Sea, whence, according to Pliny, the
ancients obtained the stone

known

to

them

as topazios, but

which was

in reality a chrysolite.

The

true topaz

was

unknown

to the ancients.

CHRYSOLITE.
Chrysolite
is

a silicate of magnesia, of a pale yellow,

It is usually found in angular slightly tinted with green. or rolled pieces, rarely crystallized. The crystals, usually
8, 10,

or 12-sided prisms, are almost tabular.

It occurs in

Upper Egypt, Mexico, Auvergne, and near Constantinople. As a gem the chrysolite is deficient in hardness and play of colours, but when the stones are large and of good colour, and well cut and polished, it is made into necklaces,
hair ornaments, &c.

From
It

its

softness

it

loses its polish

and wears at the edges.

was the topazios of the

ancients.

THE PERIDOT.
The
It is

peridot is a yellow green variety of the chrysolite. found in rolled pebbles in Ceylon, Persia, Egypt, and
It is soft for a precious stone, being just under It was rarely used by the ancients for

Bohemia.

quartz in hardness.

engraving on, but modern works frequently occur in it. The name Peridot is derived from the Arabic feridet, a
precious stone.

28

PRECIOUS STONES.
OLIVINE.

an olive-green variety of the same stone, but inferior in colour and clearness. It occurs in yellowishor embedded masses and grains. olive-coloured, green, Minute specimens occur in lavas and basalts grains of
Olivine
is
;

it

have been also discovered

filling

up

cavities in aerolites.

ZIRCON OR JARGOOX.

The

zircon

is

prisms, terminating in pyramids.

in granite, syenite, basalt, lava,

a silicate of zirconia crystallizing in square Zircons occur embedded

and are found

in alluvial
suite,

beds in Ceylon.

It

has a somewhat varied colour

white, green, yellow, red.

(21.)

Crystals of Zircon.

(1'2 )

The

brilliancy

white, or colourless variety, is the nearest match in and refractive energy to the diamond. It is most

abundant in the
its

common

Matura, in Ceylon, whence name in that country of Matura diamond.

district of
is

it

has

The
in

colourless zircon

also cut

and sold as a

false

diamond

the bazaars of India.

The green

olive-tinted zircon

is

found in Ceylon.

SILICA TES.

29

The yellow is of a honey tint, also found in Ceylon. The red or true hyacinth, or jacinth, is remarkable
its

for

fine lustre

and hardness.

It occurs in the

sands and

alluvial deposits of rivers in Ceylon,

and

is

often sold

by the

inhabitants as an inferior ruby.

grains,

It is

and never of a large size. Expilly, in Auvergne, and lately at Mudgee in Australia, in The hyacinth or jacinth, rolled pebbles of a larger size.
frequently sold

always found in small It is also found at

by

dealers,

and mentioned

in collections of

engraved gems, and

some recent authors, The name zircon is from is in reality a hyacinthine garnet. the Arabic word zerk, signifying a gem, and the word hyacinth from the Persian and Arabian yacut, a ruby.
in the writings of

The grey
gists solely

or slightly

smoky

variety

is

by some mineralo-

named

jargoon.

TOURMALINE.
a silicate of alumina with boracic acid, Tourmaline in Its optical characters hexagonal crystals. occurring are valuable, in consequence of its
is

property of absorbing one of the polarized rays of light into which it

divides every ray that
enters

the

side of its prism-shaped crystal. Its colour-suite is very extensive

black, brown, blue, green, red, yelThe low, and white, or colourless.
finest colour is that of the

ruby-red

variety termed rubellite or siderite.

When

free

from flaws,

it

constitutes

a fine stone.
crystal of Tounr.aiine.

The

finest

cimen of this gem is

(23.)

spein the collection

known

o f minerals in the British

Museum.

30

PRECIOUS STONES.
uncommon form and
Symes
by the
dimensions, and was presented King of Ava. It has been valued
Siberia.

It is of

to Colonel

at 1000Z. This variety

comes from Ava, Ceylon, and

variety from Brazil is called the Brazilian emerald, and is often used as a precious stone. It is worn by the Roman Catholic Bishops of South America as a signet

The green

stone.

yellow and brown varieties are chiefly brought from Ceylon. The yellow has been termed the Ceylon chrysolite.

The The

indigo-blue kind from Brazil

is

called Indicolite.

Black tourmaline or schorl is very abundant in granite. The white variety, which is very rare, is found in the
island of

Elba and in Siberia.

to

The name tourmaline appears Cingalese word turamali.

IOLITE.
lolite
is

be derived from the

silicate

of

alumina,

magnesia,
It
is

and

iron,

crystallizing often in hexagonal prisms.

found in

Spain, Bavaria, Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and

in

Ceylon in rolled pebbles. It is also termed dichroite, as it shows different colours in two directions, appearing of a deep

blue colour along the vertical axis, but red or yellowish grey when viewed by transmitted light at right angles to the
axis of the prism.
It is occasionally
is

employed as an ornamental

stone,

and

sometimes passed off as a sapphire. The transparent variety, found in small rolled masses

in Ceylon, is styled sapphire d'eau, or water-sapphire,

by

jewellers. Its name

is

derived from

iov (violet),

in allusion to its

bluish-violet colour,

when viewed
its

in

one direction, and the

name

dichroite,

from

presenting two colours.

SILICA TES.

31

KYANITE.
Kyanite

when

a silicate of alumina of a delicate sky-blue transparent, and of a fine blue colour, it is sometimes
is
;

It is generally imported from cut and employed as a gem. It is, India, cut and polished as a variety of sapphire.

however, deficient in hardness.

in

It

is

found at

St.

Gothard,
Its

Switzerland, in Carinthia, Bohemia, and Styria. name is derived from KVO.VOS (blue).

MOONSTONE.
Moonstone
a
silicate
is

a translucent variety of adularia, which

is

of alumina, potash and soda. It presents a pearly or silvery play of colour not unlike that of the moon, which
gives
it

its

name.

Jt

'is

held in considerable estimation as

an ornamental stone, but is more prized on the Continent than in England. It is soft compared with other gems.

The

finest stones are

brought from Ceylon.

CROCIDOLITE.
Crocidolite
is

silicate of iron,

with a fibrous structure

resembling asbestos, and showing, when cut and polished

en cabochon, a chatoyant lustre like the quartz cat's-eye. It is found in Southern Africa of bluish colour, green, and

most lustrous. yellowish-brown, the last variety being the

SUN STONE.
a translucent variety of adularia or potash with minute felspar (orthoclase), of yellowish colour, and disseminated iron of of oxide throughout, spangles

Sunstone

is

reflecting the light at certain angles.

It

comes from Ceylon,

Siberia,

and Norway.

AMAZON STONE.
Amazon
It is

a pale green variety of felspar (orthoclase)' exhibits a nacrous reflection ; it is excesand opaque,
is

32

PRECIOUS STONES.
The name
is

sively brittle, but susceptible of a fine polish.

discovery by the the of ornaments the Indians Spaniards amongst dwelling upon the River Amazon, near which it occurs in rolled
its first

derived from the circumstance of

masses.
times,

The

stone from

Lake

"Baikal in Siberia

is

some-

though

rarely, in pieces sufficiently large to be

made

into small vases

and other ornaments.

DIOPSIDE.

A silicate of magnesia and

of g'reen.
It is

lime.

It is of various shades

found in translucent crystals, in veins traThe more transat Ala, in Piedmont. serpentine versing and sometimes cut worn as gems. are crystals parent

HTPERSTENE.
silicate of magnesia, lime, and a large proportion of protoxide of iron ; it is of greyish or greenish-black colour with lamellar structure, and a bright metallic, pearly lustre.

It is found in

Labrador and Greenland.

It is

sometimes

cut for ring-stones and brooches in France.

IDOCRASE
Is a silicate of alumina, iron, lime, magnesia.
It
is

found

in crystals in the cavities of volcanic rocks in Mount VesuThe finest specimens, however, come from Ala, in vius.

the Val di Brozzo, Piedmont.

Its colour suite

is

extensive
It is cut

brown, yellow, orange, blue, green, rarely black.

into ring-stones

and other ornaments

at Naples,

and Turin,

and

sold

under various names, as chrysoMte, hyacinth,

according to the colour.

di Yesuvio."

At Naples they are called "Gemme

LAPIS LAZULI
of alumina, soda, lime with sulphur, of a beautiful azure colour. Spangles of iron pyrites sometimes
Is a
silicate

occur disseminated through the stone,

bearing

great

SILICA TES.

33

resemblance to gold. It is generally found in granite, and Notwithis brought from Persia, China, and Bucharia. of and its its not lustre, being suscepstanding deficiency
very exquisite polish, the beauty of its colour has caused this stone to be used in jewellery generally for brooches and shirt studs. It is seldom employed for seals
tible of a

on account of

its

comparative softness.

In China and India

this stone is carved into cups,

The beautiful pigment produced from this stone, when finely powdered and careThe name lazuli is probably derived from fully washed. the Arabic azul, blue.

vases, dagger-handles, &c. ultramarine, used in the arts, is

NOBLE SERPENTINE.

A hydrated

silicate

of magnesia.

This name

is

applied

to the purer translucent

and massive variety of serpentine,

with a rich oil-green colour.

NEPHRITE

JADE.

An anhydrous silicate of magnesia. Its colour varies from a creamy white to a dark olive-green. The hardness
of this stone renders
It
is
it

excessively difficult to cut and polish.

translucent, very tough, breaking with a coarse, splinIt is found in Egypt, China, from the quartery fracture.
ries of

Kuen-lun, New Zealand, North America. China furnishes ornamental vases and cups of this stone, elaborately carved, where the variety called Yu is highly 8 It is carved into handles of swords and daggers in prized.
8

" Between Yurkland and Ladak, and about a mile from Gulbusha, of the old jade works, piles of rough broken lumps of jade, which had been thrown aside, also small caves

we found numerous remains

and borings in the

'

alluvial bank,

deposited

pebbles of jade,
is

purity and compactness

where they had dug out the waterYeshamba-i-ab, which from its The considered the most valuable.
the

'

34

PRECIOUS STONES.
Cups of a mottled variety come from Siam. In " is fashioned into Zealand a variety called " poenamu

India.

New

lucent kind
chiefs.

The pure transclubs (meri), hatchets, idols (called Tiki). is made into ear-pendants, and worn by the
It is also
is

used in

New

Caledonia for hatchets.

ve</>pos,

The

name nephrite

from the Greek

kidney, in allusion

to the belief entertained in former times of its influence in

The French frequently curing diseases of the kidney. name jade is said to be derived from hi-jada, the Spanish word for kidney. According to Estner it is from the name
igida,

by which

it is

called in India.

JADEITE.

A
in

silicate

stone, of a green colour

of alumina and magnesia. It is an opaque mixed with white. It is often used

India

for

sword-handles and other ornaments.

is

The

Chinese variety

of a delicate green.

The rude

figures of

and
it

green colour, not transparent, mixed with white, carved skilfully polished, found in tombs in Mexico, are of this
stone.
It

was named Chalchituitl by the Aztecs, who held

in high estimation.

The

elaborate clasp fastening the

monarch Montezuma's imperial robe was of this stone. It was supposed by the Spaniards to be an inferior emerald
(baja esmeralda).
quarries extend over an irregular belt of a mile or so in length, and 200 or 300 feet in breadth along the mountain side, and in this space

there are the entrances of at least 100 mines. " Jade-rocks were often feet in thickness.

many
a

The colour of the

straw-green, through the different shades of green up to nearly black. The latter resembles the " The Jade Quarries of Kuen-lun," by Cayley. nephrite of Siberia."
surface
light

cut

varies

from

Macmillan's Magazine, Oct., 1871. Dr. Rennie (" Peking and the Pekingese," vol. i. p. 291) mentions seeing at Peking a very rare variety of green jade, to which great
value
is

attached.

It

was termed

Fate-su-ee.

SILICATES.

35

LABRADORITE, OR LABRADOR FELSPAR.

silicate

of alumina,

lime,

and potash.

It

exhibits

beautiful chatoyant and golden reflections, and is usually of It is found in Canada, Norway, and greyish-blue colour.

Sweden, and on the coast of Labrador, whence

it

was

origi-

It occurs also nally brought, and hence derives its name. in the Oriental verde antique of Greece, and in porphyries.

From its play of colour and chatoyant reflections it is sometimes used in jewellery for ornamental purposes, and also
for carving grotesque

heads in

relief.

OBSIDIAN.
It consists in general of 80 silica, 10 alumina, with various minor percentages of potash, soda, lime, oxide of iron. It is a volcanic glass of various colours, but usually

black or greenish-black; a green variety occurs in California. The principal localities in which it is found are
Iceland, Siberia,

Hungary,

New

Zealand,

New

Caledonia,

Ascension, Teneriffe, the

Mexico, Peru, Madagascar, South Sea Islands, Melos, and other islands in the Grecian Archipelago, California, and N.W. America.
Lipari Islands,
It
is

remarkable for

its

for its sharp, cutting edges,

perfect conchoidal fracture, and advantage of which was taken

Teneriffe,

by the ancient Mexicans, the inhabitants of

and

other primitive races, who made it into arrow-heads, knifeThe ancient inhabitants of Mexico, and blades, razors, &c.
also the

Romans, made mirrors of obsidian, and sometimes

as a gem.

used

it

AGALMATOLITE.
of alumina and potash. Its usual colour is white or red, or both colours intermingled in bands and
silicate

D 2

36

PRECIOUS STONES.
It
is

patches.

also

called figure-stone,

pagodite, and

is

brought from
seals.

It is

China, carved into grotesque figures and distinguished by its chemical composition from

steatite,

which always contains magnesia, but no potash.

STEATITE.

silicate

yellow,

of magnesia, of various tints of white, grey, It has generally a soft and green, and red.
feel,

unctuous

and yields

to the nail, but does not adhere to

The white variety the tongue; It is also called soapstone. is carved into beautiful ornaments at Agra, in India.
SELENITE.
hydrated sulphide of lime, a translucent variety of gypsum. It is frequently used for ornamental purposes for
necklaces, bracelets, &c.

TURQUOISE.
of alumina, tinted with phosphate of iron, and phosphate of copper, of a beautiful sky-blue. It occurs This is the true turquoise de la reniform, stalactitic.
vieille roche,

A phosphate

the Oriental or mineral kind.

The

best comes

from Persia, from the mines of Ansar, near Nishapur, in Khorasan. It has also been found in Arabia Petrasa. It
takes a fine polish, and
in

low cabochon.

It

is

is much employed in jewellery, much used in Oriental countries

cut
for

ornamenting swords, daggers, cups, &c. This stone is very liable to lose its colour under the action of alkalies, such as
are contained in soap, or even by exposure to the light and the action of the air. The Mexicans had also a turquoise which they used, as the Persians have always done, to orna-

ment

objects in clustered masses.

There

is

also a green

variety.

TURQUOISE.
According to Mr. Eastwick,
in the Persian

37

Treasury

is

the finest turquoise in the world, three or four inches long and without a flaw.

ODONTOLITE.
Odontolite, or turquoise de la nouvelle roche, also termed occidental, or bone turquoise, appears to be bone or ivory-

coloured by oxide of copper. It is found in Languedoc. The colour is generally fine, but of an inky-blue, which is never seen in the Persian turquoise. Its texture is very

compact.

38

PRECIOUS STONES.

PRECIOUS OPAL.
OPAL
silica,
is

and 5

a hydrate of silica, consisting of from 90 to 95 of There are several varieties. to 10 of water.

opal,
flash

The most highly prized is the noble or precious which exhibits a rich play of prismatic colours, which
from minute
lines,

fissures apparently striated

with microscopic
incipient crystalli-

due

not due to any colouring matter, but is in consequence of the diffraction of the light produced by these fine lines. When held between the eye and the
zation.

it may be to The colour is

lamina, formed

by

light

it

appears of a pale red and wine-yellow

tint,

with a

milky transparency.

By

reflected light

it

displays the most

beautiful iridescent colours, green, yellow, red, blue, violet. Fine stones are It is always cut with a convex surface.

extremely rare, and seldom large.

the Harlequin opal.
variety
in

Golden opal
varieties

is

This variety is called a term applied to that

is

which only one

colour, an orange-yellow,

do not exhibit the peculiar The common present. termed opalescence. They are sometimes play of colours other ornaments. and made into pins, cane-heads,

The

finest

opal

of

modern times was the Empress

Josephine's,

entitled

the

"Burning of Troy," from the

its

innumerable red flames blazing on

being perfectly opaque.

surface, the reverse

The
Vienna.

largest opal

known

is

in the
fist,

Imperial Cabinet of

It is the size of a

man's

and weighs seventeen

PRECIOUS OPAL.
ounces, but
in the
is full

39

of fissures.

Townshend
opal
is

Collection,

The
and

found in

Good specimens may be seen S.K.M. Hungary, Mexico, and Honduras,

in Ceylon.

in small

rounded pieces in sand,

FIRE OPAL
Is a rich hyacinth-red variety of opal, from Mexico. It is also called Girasol and Sun opal. fine specimen is in the

Beresford

Hope

Collection,

S.K.M.

HYALITE.

semi-transparent variety of opal, occurring in small

reniform, botryoidal forms, resembling glass.

HTDROPHANE.
of opal of a dull appearance, but which when immersed in water acquires all the opalescent tints of the
precious opal.
It is also of

A variety

an opaque yellow, which when

moistened becomes quite transparent. It adheres to the Its name is derived from tongue. t>Swp, water, and <cuW,
to appear.

CACHOLONG.
its being found in great It on the borders of the River Cach, in Bucharia. beauty
is

A variety of opal,

so called from

exteriorly, but with a

nearly opaque, of a milky or bluish-white colour, dull somewhat pearly lustre within. It is

sometimes found associated with hydrophane.

MATRIX OF OPAL.
porphyry containing minute veins of opal, running Snuff-boxes and other ornaments are made through it.
of
it.

40

PRECIOUS STONES.
ROCK CRYSTAL.

silica crystallized.

This colourless variety of vitreous quartz consists of pure It is very common in. granite and other

rocks and veins, in the shape of rock-crystal, presenting itself in six-sided prisms, terminating at one or both ends in
It scratches glass, and six-sided shining pyramids. harder than felspar, but is not so hard as topaz. It
is
is

(24).

(25).

found in various
globe;
in

localities in

almost

every part of the

several Indies, Ceylon, Brazil, in of where the parts England, Ireland, Scotland, crystals are called diamonds, such as Bristol diamonds, Isle of

the

East

Wight diamonds, Irish diamonds. It is employed for ornamental purposes. In India it is cut into cups, vases, some
elaborately carved.

AMETHYST.
iron and manganese.

Quartz, or rock crystal, coloured by a minute portion of It is a transparent stone of a purple

VITREOUS QUARTZ.
or violet colour.

41

amethysts are brought from It is also found and Siberia. India, Persia, Ceylon, Brazil, in Ireland. It is chiefly used for brooches and other ornafinest

The

mental purposes.

The deep

purple-coloured specimens are

to be distinguished

frequently called Oriental,

by jewellers,

from the true Oriental amethyst or violet sapphire.

YELLOW CRYSTAL.
This variety of quartz
is

sometimes called

false topaz.

The wine-coloured variety is called Cairngorm, after the name of the mountain in Invernessshire, where it is found.
It is frequently

used for ornamenting the handles of dirks,

powder-horns, snuff-boxes, and other articles belonging to Highland costume. This yellow variety is found in every
part of the world, in Brazil, Switzerland, Siberia, India.

The deep-coloured crystals found in Brazil are called " cinnamon-stone, the French term being pierre de cannelle." fine kind is also found in Spain, of a dark yellowishheated becomes
tint.

brown, which when assumes a fine orange

light-coloured,

and

BLUE CRYSTAL.
Water- worn pebbles of crystal, of a beautiful blue colour, are found in France in the stream of Rioupezzouliou, near
Expilly, in Auvergne they have been called saphirs de France, or saphirs de Puy-en-Velai.
:

ROSE QUARTZ.

transparent variety of quartz of a rose-red or pink

It is sometimes colour, probably produced by manganese. in and When cut jewellery. polished, and of employed

good colour,

it

is

sometimes sold for

spinel.

It

is

found in

42

PRECIOUS STONES.

Rabenstein, in Bavaria, in a vein of manganese traversing granite, in France, in Finland, and also in Scotland and
Ireland.

CITRINE.

A variety of crystal

of a lemon-yellow colour.

SMOKY QUARTZ.
is

Crystals of quartz of a also called morion.

brown

or smoke-coloured tint.

It

IRIS.

The name

applied

by French jewellers

to a variety of

rock crystal, possessing the property of reflecting the prismatic colours by means of natural flaws in the interior of
the stone.
It

may

be

produced

crystals suddenly into boiling water,

suddenly dropping it into Josephine possessed a suite

stone.

by dropping by heating and The Empress cold water. of ornaments made of this
artificially

or

RUBASSE.

A name given by
crystal with

French

lapidaries to a variety of rock

rose-coloured

cracks.

These

fissures

are

and artificially produced by heating the crystal red-hot then plunging it into a solution of purple of cassius, or carmine.

AVANTURINE.

translucent variety of vitreous quartz of reddish colour,

It
is

and containing minute yellow spangles of mica. in India, Bohemia, Cape de Gata, in Spain, and

found

in Siberia.
artificial

Many

ornamental articles are

it

made of
It

it.

An

variety of

is

made

at Venice.

was discovered by

CHALCEDON1C QUARTZ.
chance (par avantura),
let fall

43

workman having
this.

accidentally

some brass

filings into a pot of melted glass.

The

name has been derived from

beautiful green variety is found in India, which is sometimes used for glyptic purposes. In the collection of Dr. Wise is a lingam of green avanturine, with the head of

Siva carved on

it.

PRASE.
but hard green impure translucent variety of vitreous quartz, the colour of which is caused by an admixdull

ture of amphibole.

It seems seldom noticed, but the

name

is

very frequently confounded by some writers with plasma, It is found in the iron-mines of a green chalcedony.
Breitenbrunn, near Schwartzenberg, in Saxony, and on the Harz.

CHALCEDONY.
Pure chalcedony is a most intimate mixture of silica in the two states of quartz and opal, and in variable proportions.

It

is

colourless,

or a very pale horn colour; but

tinted with small quantities of iron

and other substances

it

forms a

brilliant, endless variety of sards, agates, cornelians,

plasmas, &c.

WHITE CARNELIAN
Is the milk-white variety of chalcedony.

SAPPHIRINE.

A
tint.

name

applied by lapidaries to chalcedony of a blue

is that of a yellow colour. a term sometimes applied to a variety of yellow

Another variety of chalcedony

Opaline
is

chalcedony which presents an opaline semi-opacity.

44

PRECIOUS STONES.
CARNELIAN.

The red variety of chalcedony. Its colour ranges from a clear bright red tint to a deep reddish-brown. The colour
due to the presence of iron. The Occidental variety, so to distinguish it from the Oriental variety, or sard, is generally of a dull red, and is deficient in the rich hues of
is

named

It is susceptible of a high polish, and for that reason, and the brightness of its colour, it has always been a favourite substance, much used for seals, brooches,

the latter stone.

rings, necklaces, &c.

in Scotland.

It

is is

found in Bohemia, Saxony, and

derived from carneus (from caro,

The name

flesh) in allusion to its colour.

SARD.
only applied to the Oriental variety of or red The sard, when in its perfeccarnelian, chalcedony. tion, is of a full, rich reddish-brown colour, and when held
is

The name

sard

between the eye and the light exhibits a deep ruby colour, approaching to cherry red, or blood red. The French term the deep brownish-red variety of this stone, almost inclining
to black, sardoine,
finest sards

calling the red

alone cornaline.

The

are also

come from Cambay and Surat in India. They found in Arabia. The sard was much used by the
is

ancients for intagli.

Cornaline de vieille roche,

name given by

lapidaries

to the clear, transparent Oriental variety of carnelian of a

dark red colour, and held in most esteem in consequence of

the richness of
its colour,

and

its

hardness, which renders

is

it

susceptible of a high polish.

It

found in the older rocks,

and

is

chiefly

brought from Surat, in India.

ONYX.

variety of chalcedony in alternate stripes of black and

CHALCEDONIC QUARTZ.

45

The name is more especially applied to the strata white. of agate, when cut in only two parallel horizontal layers, the white being uppermost. There are two varieties of onyx,
the Oriental and the Occidental.
texture,

The
It

Oriental

is

of a fine

India.
stein, is

generally comes from The Occidental variety, especially that from OberThe finest onyxes, from softer than the Oriental.

and extremely hard.

the earliest times, came from India, principally from Broach, near Cambay, and from Malwa; the greater number at the
present day come from Uruguay, in Brazil, and are worked up into ornamental stones at Oberstein. These are mostly The word onyx is derived from all artificially coloured.

ow,

a nail, because

it

has a white in
(Pliny.)

it

resembling that in

the nail of a man's finger.

SARDONYX.
variety of chalcedony consisting of alternate parallel layers of white and red chalcedony, and in some instances
introduced.

of more than two layers, when an upper brown one is When used for the purposes of art, it is so that the white layer is over the red, or sard. arranged

The

Oriental variety

is
;

most prized, and was the only kind

used by ancient

rally adopted for camei, or

the Occidental variety is that geneornaments at the present day. This variety of onyx has been defined by Pliny as presenting a white layer over one of sard (candor in sarda), like the human nail over flesh.
artists

CHALCEDONYX.

A variety of chalcedony,

with alternating layers of white

for camei.

and grey, the white being uppermost when used

46

PRECIOUS STONES.
AGATHE-ONYX.
Agathe-onyx
is

name given by the French

to that

variety in which the upper layer is opaque and white, the lower transparent, and either colourless or a pale yellow.

This is the material most frequently employed for modern carving, and is often termed the German onyx, where the ancients preferred almost exclusively for that purpose the opaque and rich-coloured strata of the Indian sardonyx.

NICOLO.
variety of onyx so called, when the lower layer is When used for black, and the upper one of a bluish tint.
intagli,

the design

is

cut through the upper layer to the

lower one.
nicolo
is

It generally exhibits a bevel edge.

little

The name
onyx).

from the Italian word onicolo (a

BANDED AGATE.

When
It

an agate

is

so cut that the layers run across the

face of the stone

it is

termed "tri-coloured," or banded agate.

was a favourite stone of the Italo-Greek engravers.

JASPER ONYX.
These are varieties
in

JASPER AGATE.
layers

which one or more of the

of the agate are formed of a coloured jasper.

PLASMA.

lustre,

leek-green translucent chalcedony, possessing a and sometimes exhibiting small black spots.

waxy The

present

by ancient engravers came from India ; at the day it comes from Schwarzwald, near Baden; Hauskopf, near Oppenau. Many antique intagli occur in
stone used

this stone.

CHALCEDONIC QUARTZ.
The word plasma
prasina.
is

47

an Italian corruption of prasius or

It is called

or prasma.

This stone

by the Italians plasma di smeraldo, is not to be confounded with prase,

a dull green vitreous quartz, a mistake frequently some writers of the present day.

made by

HELIOTROPE.

A translucent green
The
finest

chalcedony, or plasma with red spots.

kind comes from India.

AGATE.
Agates are mixtures
varieties of chalcedony.
in

alternating

layers

of various

They have been usually formed

by

infiltration

rocks, and the layers

of siliceous waters into cavities in trapin the agate mark the successive and

new

often concentric walls of the cavity as from time to time In amygdaloid deposits were formed in the interior.

they are mostly found in the form of hollow balls or geodes, coated inside with quartz or amethyst. The hardest and finest-coloured are those of India and Uruguay, in Brazil.

The

Softer agates are found in Germany, and in other localities. finest varieties are termed Oriental. From these

stones,

the

onyx,

sardonyx, are produced

when

cut in

parallel horizontal layers.

9 best Indian agates, Mr. Forbes tells us, are found in under the surface of the earth, peculiar strata, thirty feet

The

in a small tract

among the Rajpipla hills, on the banks ot the Nerbudda; they are not to be met with in any other part of Guzerat, and are generally cut and polished in
Cambay.
" In the neighbourhood of Broach, nodules of agate are
9

" Oriental Mems.," vol.

ii.

p. 20.

48

PRECIOUS STONES.

procured by sinking pits in the dry season in the channels of torrents. Their colour when recent is dark olive-green,

The preparation which they undergo is, inclining to grey. sun for several weeks, and then calcito the first, exposure
The latter process is performed by packing the stones in earthen pots, and covering them with a layer five or six inches thick of dried goat's-dung. Fire is then
nation.
ficiently cool to

applied to the mass, and in twelve hours the pots are sufbe removed. The stones which they con-

are now examined, and are found to be some of them and others nearly white, the difference in their respective tints depending in* part on the original quality of
tain

red,

colouring matter, and in part, perhaps, on the difference inthe heat to which they have been exposed." l

Immense quantities of agates are obtained from Uruguay, which are cut and polished at Oberstein, in Rhenish Bavaria, whence they are exported to all parts of the world. Agates are also found at Oberstein, and in Scotland.
Sicily furnishes

and white, and red and white.

stripes.

a variety of agate mottled with yellow It never occurs in layers or

The
creased,

colours of agate,

when

indistinct,

may

be also

in-

by steeping

first

in oil or honey,

and afterwards
oil

boiling in sulphuric acid, or

which turns the carbon of the

honey absorbed by

this stone to a light or

dark brown,

or black, according to the quantity that has penetrated, is in proportion to the more or less porous nature of the stone or parts of the stone.

which

The
less

sard or red tint

is

iron,

grey chalcedony and then heating

1

in a solution of nitric acid, water,

it

produced by soaking the colourand

it

to turn

into red.

Jamieson's "Mineralogy," vol.

i.

p. 255.

CHALCEDON1C QUARTZ.

49

These practices are adopted at Oberstein, in Germany, at the present day. These stones are much employed in a polished state for
as brooches, bracelets, beads, seals, All these articles, sold at wateringplaces in different parts of England, are made from agates, which come from Brazil, but which are cut and polished at
articles,

ornamental

paper-knives,, &c.

Oberstein,

in

Germany.
of
in
Sicily

Sicilian

agates are

frequently

used
them.

for

handles

knives

The churches

and ornamental purposes. are profusely ornamented' with

varieties of the agate; such as,

Lapidaries have given distinctive names to the numerous moss agate, ribbon agate, eye

agate, fortification agate, zoned or banded agate, variegated agate, brecciated agate, mocha stone.

Moss agate is that variety which encloses dendritic or moss-like markings of various shades.
Ribbon agate is so straight and parallel.
called,

when

the layers are nearly

Eye
agate,

agate

is

which show a dark spot

a term applied to those small kinds of circle in the centre. It is much

prized in India.
Fortification agate, when the layers are zigzag, from its general resemblance to the outline of a fortification. Zoned or banded agate, when the stone is so cut that the
layers, usually
is

dark and white, run across the face of

it.

It

sometimes styled tri-coloured. Brecciated agates consist of fragments of jasper, bloodstone, cornelian, &c., cemented by a paste of chalcedony.

Mocha
taining

stone

is

a translucent variety of chalcedony, contrees

brown and black markings resembling

and

plants, occasioned probably by the infiltration of iron or manganese. It is found in Arabia, whence the name mocha

50

PRECIOUS STONES.
Others say
it is

stone.

a corruption of moschos (or moss)

stone.

The name agate

in

Sicily,

is derived from that of the river Achates, where, according to Theophrastus, agates were

first

found.

CAT'S EYE.

A variety of
blackish.

chalcedonic quartz, usually of a yellowish-

greenish colour, sometimes hyacinth red, olive green,

and

displays a peculiar floating lustre, resembling the contracted pupil of a cat's eye when held to the light, which is supposed to be caused
it

When

cut en cabochon

by -the presence of small parallel fibres of asbestos. It is mostly used as a ring-stone. The finest kinds come from Ceylon and Malabar. It is greatly esteemed by the modern
in

Hindoos, and a high value set on it. The largest known is It formerly the Beresford Hope collection, S.K.M. of It is to the King Candy. belonged hemispherical, 1J
inches in diameter.
bel-occhio.

The

Italian

name

for

cat's

eye

is

CHRYSOPRASE.
apple-green variety of chalcedony, coloured by oxide It is only found at Kosemuth, in Siberia. of nickel. In

An

France

it is

much used

for seals, snuff-boxes, brooches,

and

ornaments.

JASPER.

A compact variety

proportion of alumina and iron.

of quartz, rendered opaque by a small It is usually of a dull red,

yellow, brown, or green colour, sometimes blue or black. red jasper, of a vermilion colour, is found in a breccia in

Pebbles of red jasper are found India, and also in Egypt. on the plains of Argos ; yellow jasper is found at Vourla,

JASPER Y QUAR TZ.

in the

51

bay of Smyrna. Red jasper is coloured by the peroxide yellow and brown by the hydrate of, iron green jasper is coloured by a mixture of the green mineral
;

chlorite.

When

the colours are arranged in stripes

it

is

called

striped or ribbon jasper.

A variety with

green comes from Siberia, yellow, red, and white from India.

stripes of red and and another with stripes of

Egyptian jasper occurs in the form of pebbles on the banks of the Nile, and is zoned with shades of brown, frequently spotted with black. Sicily furnishes a fine variety of jasper, of which cups,
tables, altars,

even

pillars

and columns, are made.

is

Jasper

is

susceptible of a brilliant polish, and

snuff-boxes, vases,

manu-

factured into brooches,

knife-handles,

and other ornamental

articles.

jasper (jaspis) is undoubtedly a word of Semitic It is the Hebrew jashpeh (firm, tough), from origin. jashat (to be strengthened), a derivation that derives

The

some

interest

from the fact that nearly

all

the Semitic

(Phoenician) gems we know are engraved on green jasper, known as jaspis by Greek and
daries.
2

a chloritic

Latin lapi-

BLOODSTONE.
green jasper spotted with red spots. It is often used In the middle ages it was held in high esteem ; as the red spots were supposed to be the blood of Christ.
for seals.
It is found massive in India, Bucharia, Tartary,

Siberia.

In Italy it This stone

is

is

termed jaspro sanguineo (sanguineus jasper). often confounded with heliotrope, or green
spots..

chalcedony with red

2

" Precious Stones," Edinburgh Revieiv, July, 1866, p. 237.

E 2

52

PRECIOUS STONES.

PORCELAIN JASPER, OR PORCELLANITE.

clay altered by heat, and often having the aspect of certain kinds of porcelain.

MAGNETITE.
magnetic iron ore, consisting of about 69 iron peroxide with 31 iron protoxide. It is of iron-black colour, with a
metallic lustre
It
is

strongly magnetic, especially when massive. found in India, Hungary, Saxony, Siberia, France,
;

and many other countries.

Babylonian cylinders are sometimes made of
this stone.

HEMATITE.
peroxide of iron, opaque, of an iron-black colour with It' is found in France, Spain, Germany, red streaks.
Russia, and in
It
is

and

is

many parts of England. sometimes hard enough to take a very fine polish, thus used for polishing glass, gold, steel, and other

metals.
It is distinguished from magnetite by its red streaks. Babylonian cylinders and intagli are frequently found of
this stone.

MARCASITE.

White
polish,

and

It takes a good iron pyrites, or sulphuret of iron. is cut into facets, like the rose diamond. In

this state it possesses all the brightness of polished steel.

was formerly much employed for ornamental purposes, when it was made into shoe and knee buckles, and set in
It
pins, bracelets, &c.

DIOPTASE.

silicate

of copper, of an emerald green colour and of a

MALACHITE.
vitreous lustre.
in the

53

It

occurs disposed in

small crystals

on

quartz copper mines at Altyn Tube, in Siberia. It has been sold for emerald by ignorant dealers. specimen of this stone passed off as an emerald may be seen in the

Geological

Museum, Jermyn

Street.

MALACHITE.
It occurs in reniform, Green carbonate of copper. in copper mines. Its and masses stalagmitic botryoidal,

colour

is

of various shades of green, from a light, bright

green, to a dark

up

into

finest

Fine specimens are worked and other ornaments. The variety comes from Siberia, about 100 miles south of

opaque kind.

vases,

snuff-boxes,

Bogoslofsk.

at Burra-Burra.

Fine specimens are also found in Australia, The name is derived from /xaXa^, the
its

marsh-mallow, on account of to the leaves of this plant.

resemblance in colour

AZURITE.
Blue carbonate of copper, of an azure blue colour. It It is also generally occurs associated with malachite. has been called chessylite, a name which given to it from
Chessy, near Lyons, where
it

occurs in beautiful crystals.

54,

PRECIOUS STONES.

PEARLS.
Pearls
are

concretions

of carbonate of lime found

ostrea,

in

certain shell-fish (avicnla,

formed of

infinitely

pinna), and are delicate layers of shell matter around

unio,
into the shell

some foreign body accidentally introduced

(usually a grain of sand), for the purpose of preventing the irritation its roughness would otherwise occasion to the

tender inmate.

They
black.

are found of different colours, white, yellow, pink,

The principal pearl-fisheries are in the east, on the west coast of Ceylon, in the Bay of Manaar, in the Persian Gulf. They also come from Panama and California.
They
are

much

generally worn strung

prized for ornamental purposes, and are as necklaces or in ear-rings.

The
of the

pearl necklace of the

finest

Empress of the French

necklace,
is

is

one

known.

The

presented to her
fine.

Majesty by the East India Company

equally

The

largest

known
is

pearl,

weighing three ounces, and

set

as a pendant,

in the Beresford

Hope

Collection, in the

South Kensington Museum. It is pear-shaped, and measures 2 inches deep by 2| in circumference at the longer end.

The Shah

of Persia has a pearl valued at 60,000/.

All the different varieties of the pearl, together with an example of the pearl-bearing oyster, exhibiting the pearl in
the fish,

may

be seen at the South Kensington

Museum.

AMBER.

55

AMBER.

fossilized

gum

or resin found in irregular masses of all

shades of yellow, from the palest primrose to the deepest orange, sometimes brown. Its lustre is resinous or waxy,

and varies
It

from transparent
;

tions are, earbon, 78*96

to opaque. hydrogen, 10-51

The composi;

oxygen, 10'52.

becomes negatively electric by friction. According to Goeppert, amber is the mineralized resin of extinct coniferse, one of which he has named Pinites succinifer, or amberbearing pine-tree. Amber is found in abundance on the Prussian coast of
the Baltic, from Dantzig to Memel, also on the coast of Denmark, in, Sweden, Norway, Moravia, Poland, Switzerland,

and

in France.

It is also found

on the

Sicilian coast

near Catania, at Hasen Island in Greenland, and occasionally on the coast of Norfolk, Essex, Sussex, and Kent. That found on the coast is distinguished as marine

amber.

The

other description, called terrestrial amber,

is

dug out of mines, and is generally found in alluvial deposits of sand and clay, associated with fossil wood, iron pyrites, and alum shale.

They appear

Insects and other animals frequently occur enclosed in it. to have been entangled in the viscous sub-

stance while alive.

In the Beresford Hope Collection

is

piece of amber in which is a small fish. Yellow amber, cut in facets or simply in heads for
bracelets

and necklaces, was in fashion some years ago. At the present day it is chiefly used in the east by the Turks, Egyptians, Arabs, Persians, and the natives of India, .to

ornament their pipes, arms, the saddles and bridles of their At the present day in Europe it is still used for the mouthpieces of pipes. The translucent yellow variety
horses.

56

PRECIOUS STONES.
the rarest and the most prized by the Orientals. In the of Mineralogy in Paris is the handle of a cane

is

Museum

made of pure limpid yellow amber. The semi-opaque or " clouded " variety was much prized in England in the age of Pope and Gay.
JET.
variety of lignite (fossil the colour is velvet black.
'Jet
is

wood imperfectly

mineralized),

of the Baltic,
in Yorkshire.

found principally in the amber mines on the coast where it is known by the name of black
It is there

amber, and in alum shale in the neighbourhood of Whitby

made

into various articles,

and

is

especially used for mourning ornaments.

CORAL.
Coral is a production secreted by marine asteroids, polypi, It is composed of carbonate of lime, a little or zoophytes. magnesia, and a very small percentage of oxide of iron. It
It

assumes a peculiar plant-like form with numerous branches. is found of several colours, red, pink, green, brown, and

The pale delicate pink yellow, as well as white and black. is the most valued, and realizes a high price.
Coral
is

found in enormous reefs in the seas in

many

That adapted for purposes of ornament parts of the globe. comes almost entirely from the Mediterranean, and is found
principally on the African coast.

At Naples and Genoa

it

is

largely used for ornamental

purposes, and is carved into charms against the evil eye.

bracelets, necklaces, beads,

and

FLUOR SPAR.

A fluoride of calcium,

consisting of 67*15 lime and 33'2o

FLUOR SPAR.
fluoric acid.

57

It occurs chiefly in veins

either crystallized

in cubes,

in

granular crystalline masses, or compact and

earthy.
red.

Its colours are various, the

more common being

violet blue, yellow, green,

and purplish blue passing into

The red tints are produced by exposing it to heat. The finest specimens for ornamental purposes come from
Cliff in Derbyshire,

Tray
also

and are

called

Blue John.
in

It is

found in other parts of Derbyshire, and

Cornwall.

It occurs, too, in

Mont

Blanc, St. Gothard, in Bohemia, and

in Italy,

in the

Lombardian Alps.
into

In Derbyshire
articles,

it

is

largely

manufactured

ornamental

tazzas,

vases, &c.

Eight large blocks of fluor spar have been lately discovered at the Marmorata, the site of the ancient Emporium, on the banks of the Tiber, Rome, where they were evidently imported from the East, with other blocks of Oriental

was some years ago in the possession dealer in antiquities of the name of Rolli, which he sold to the Jesuits, who had it cut up into thin slabs to
fluor spar

A block of
of a

marble found there. This variety of fluor spar exhibits all the colours of the Occidental kind, violet blue, purple, green, red, with veins of white (hornstone) winding through it.

Roman

form the front of the altar of their church, the Gesu.

gave out he found
but
it is
it

Rolli

now known
3

digging the foundations of a house, he stole it from the Marmorata. 3

See article on " Murrhina."

58

ANTIQUE GEMS.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
ADAMAS.

CORUNDUM.

THE adamas

of Pliny has been identified by many writers with the diamond, but we are inclined to adopt Professor Dana's opinion, that it is doubtful whether Pliny had any
acquaintance with the real diamond. According to Pliny, "the Indian adamas appeared to have a certain affinity to crystal, being colourless and transparent, having six angles, polished faces, and terminating
like a

pyramid in a sharp point (laterum sexangulo Icevore turbinatus in mucronem), or also pointed at the opposite extremities, as though two whipping-tops (turbines) were

This description joined together by their broadest ends." which a of corundum the form of delineates correctly crystal
hexagonal, commonly occurring crystallized in six-sided It is also found in obtuse and acute double hexaprisms.
is

hedral pyramids (Pliny's turbines). nearly colourless

bluish
tint.
is

It

is

generally found

and transparent, but frequently with a The crystallization of the diamond, on the
octahedral,

other hand,

and hence

it is

evident

it is

not

the stone described here.

of the adamas, Pliny says, is beyond all it expression, owing to which indomitable powers it is that has received the name which it derives from the Greek (a,
not,

The hardness

and

Sa/xaw, to subdue).

The corundum

is

next in hard-

ANTIQUE GEMS.
ness to the diamond. " These " are stones," he further says, tested with the anvil, and will resist the blow to such an

Octahedral crystal of Diamond.

Hexahedral crystal of Corundum.

extent
split

as to

make

asunder."

This, however,

the iron rebound, and the very anvil is not the case with diamond,

as

it is

slight

very brittle, and splits readily when struck with a blow in the direction of the plane of cleavage.
"
:

Pliny observes further on

When by

good fortune

this

stone does happen to be broken, it divides into fragments so minute as to be almost imperceptible. These particles
are held in great request by engravers, who enclose them in iron, and are enabled thereby, with the greatest facility,
to cut the very hardest substances

known." Fragments of corundum, from time immemorial, have been used by Indian lapidaries for cutting and polishing the hardest gems. When
first

introduced, Mr. King some ninety years ago,

tells us, into

it

the European atelier, was known by the name of

1

adamantine spar.
"

Some

mineralogists,"
1

Mr. King

writes,

" have advanced

" Precious Stones," p. 42.

60

ANTIQUE GEMS.

the paradox that the adamas of the Romans was not the sufficient answer to this is, diamond, but the sapphire.

that such

large sapphires as the ancients frequently engraved (the signet of Constantius, for instance, weighing 53 And besides carats) could not be termed punctum lapidis.
this the latter stone could not

have been engraved by means

of

its

own

fragments.

The

masses of considerable relative

sapphire, too, usually occurs in size, especially the grey sort,

and these are found rounded and pebble-shaped

in short, to be described

supposed, according to this theory, to represent the adamas, of a form,

;

by anything better than the term

punctum" Mr. King must be well aware that the signet of Constantius, and all other engraved sapphires, belong to a late date
of the Empire, 2 and consequently after the time of Pliny, when, perhaps the true diamond was known. In Pliny's

time the diamond was evidently unknown. The punctum been lapidis, or sharp fragment of corundum, would have

enough

for the purpose of engraving the stones then in use, such as onyx, sard, and other chalcedonic stones. Besides small crystals of corundum are frequently found, with sharp

points, to
3

which the term punctum

lapidis

may be

well

This Mr. King admits further on. " Before the introduction of the true diamond into Greece, sharp fragments of corundum, obtained from Naxos, served the same
applied.

purpose the name adamas was then, doubtless, confined to the blue and grey sapphires found in Cyprus, or to the opaquer crystals of corundum discovered in the emery
:

Such a stone, reduced to sharp fragments, would mines. serve to cut into and excise the quartz gems, sards, agates, 2 The engraved rubies also mentioned by Mr. King all date from a
very late period of the Empire.
3 A small crystal of corundum from Ceylon in the possession of the author readily scratches onyx.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
jaspers, then
facility as the
in

61

diamond

request as signets, with almost as much itself." He also allows further on in

a note, page 108, that the ancient crusta adamantis was a

corundum, which is most probable. Further, Mr. Maskelyne suggests that the Greek term adamas was originally derived from the Semitic name for
splinter of

a material (probably corundum, or massive sapphire), which Phoenician commerce brought from India. 4

Pliny mentions other varieties of adamas, which were undoubtedly all white sapphires the Arabian, those found in the mines of Ethiopia, between the temple of Mercury

and the Island of Meroe, the Cenchrea, the Macedonian, the Cyprian. The diamond has never been found in Arabia. The Ethiopia mentioned by Pliny is in reality India, and
Agassiz
is

of opinion that the

"Temple

of Mercury" means

Brahmaloka, or Temple of Brahma. Crystals of corundum are still found in granite rocks on the coast of Malabar, in
the Carnatic, and in Ceylon. The Cenchrea, which Pliny describes as about as large as a grain of millet in size, was doubtless a name applied to the small rolled pebbles of

sapphire found in beds of streams.

The Cyprian adamas,

so called from its being found in the Island of Cyprus, and to which aerius colour was applied, shows it to be a sky-

blue sapphire. Next in succession he mentions siderites,

shines like iron, and
is

"a stone which more ponderous than any of the others, but differs in its properties from them all." Mr. Maskelyne identifies this stone with magnetite, the heaviest and hardest ore of that steel to which, doubtless, the title of adamas was
originally vaguely applied.

The adamas
emery
stone,
4

of Theophrastus was in all likelihood the an amorphous form of corundum.

Edinburgh Rev., July, 1866,
p. 237.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
In the Periplus of the Red Sea we read, " to Barace (Barcellore) are brought various and numerous kinds of

The first lustrous gems, the Adamas and the Hyacinthus." here is doubtless the corundum, or white sapphire, and the
second the blue sapphire. Rings exist of Roman workmanship in which the diamond
is set in its
its

original octahedral form, unpolished, save with natural somewhat resinous lustre, but evidently of a much later date than Pliny's time. The Hertz collection

in weight, set

possessed a well-formed octahedral diamond, about a carat open in a Roman ring. The Waterton Dacty-

example of a diamond in its original All setting, apparently dating from the Lower Empire. these examples, however, date from a period long after
liotheca furnishes a fine

Pliny's time.

CAKBUNCULUS INBICUS.
In the
first

Tbe Ruby. The M The Female The Spinel.

^~

rank among flame-coloured stones Pliny

places the carbunculus, so called from its resemblance to a red-hot coal. There are, he says, various kinds of car-

buncles; of these, the most remarkable are the Indian and the Garamantic, each kind being subdivided into male and
female, the former of which is of a more striking brilliancy, the brightness of the latter being not so strong. The male variety of the Carbunculus Indicus we would
identify with the
for its bright colour

ruby or red sapphire, which is remarkable and rich tints, and the female with the

spinel ruby, a darker stone with less brilliancy.

The carbunculus garamanticus was doubtless the garnet. From their not being affected by the fire, they were
termed by the ancients, " acaustoi," a quality which applies
exclusively to the ruby, as
it is

infusible.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
Lessing and the Count de Clarac deny the existence of

any really antique intaglio in this gem. Mr. King, however, enumerates a few works in ruby, of apparently indubitable First, on account of the quality, a large oval, antiquity. convex stone of the true " pigeon blood tint," and slightly weighing apparently about three carats in the Devonshire
a but poor intaglio parure, engraved with a Venus Victrix in the latest Roman manner. full-length figure of Osiris, in half-relief, which seems a production of the Egyptian

revival under Hadrian.

In spinel he cites a most splendid Gorgon's head (Praun), and a head of Pertmax, in his possession. Nevertheless, Mr. King remarks, engravings in any of
the Precious Stones are always to be received with the
greatest suspicion.

True

rubies,

and of good colour, uncut, but with their

natural surface rudely polished, occur, both inserted into pieces of antique jewellery, and set in rings dating from the
earliest times.

HYACINTHUS.

SAPPHIRE.

The hyacinthus of the ancients is generally supposed to be the sapphire of the modern. Solinus thus describes it. " these things (in Ethiopia), of which we have Amongst
treated, is

colour; a stone of price if

it

found also the hyacinthus of a shining cerulean it be found without blemish, for

extremely liable to defects. The best colour of the is an equable one, neither dulled by too deep a dye, nor too clear with over much transparency." better
is

stone

description could not be given of the sapphire. The description of the hyacinthus, by Pliny,

would lead

us to identify the stone mentioned by him, with the Oriental " amethyst or violet sapphire. He thus describes it: Very

64

ANTIQUE GEMS.
from
this

different

stone

(the

amethyst)

is

hyacinthus,

though partaking of a colour that closely borders upon it. The great difference between them is, that the brilliant
violet,

which

is

so refulgent in the amethystus,

is

diluted in

the other stone."

On account

of

its

extreme hardness, the ancients for the

most part employed the sapphire as a mere ornamental stone for setting in their jewellery, unengraved and unshaped, contenting themselves with giving a tolerable polish to the
native irregular surface of the pebble. Most of the known antique intagli in sapphire are of a
late

Roman

period.

In the Marlborough Collection are two most valuable as

well as genuine examples of the sapphire, bearing antique The intaglio is someintagli; one is a head of Caracalla.

lustre.

what shallow, and is polished within to a singular degree of The stone is of a deep violet colour, and f inch

high by

The other is a Medusa's head, in front wide. -| of the features, and the curling snaky the treatment face, tresses spirited to a degree, and every part most highly finished. This sapphire is of a fine sky-blue shade. But
is

the most famous of all

in the Rinuccini Collection),

the signet of Constantius II. (now on a perfect stone, weighing

53 carats.

Some good
Collection.

intagli

on sapphire are in Mr. Maskelyne's

is

According to ancient writers, the word hyacinthus

derived from the

name

of a flower of a similar colour to this

stone, but the received opinion at the present

is

day

is,

that

it

derived from the Persian jacut, ruby.

the

The iolite may have been classed by name of hyacinthus, as they were,
it

the ancients under

perhaps, unable to

distinguish between

and the sapphire.

In Mr. Maske-

ANTIQUE GEMS.
lyne's collection is a fine

65

example of an

iolite
its

head of Berenice
to be a sapphire,

II.

It

was considered by

bearing the former owner

and perhaps

in ancient times also.

CHRTSOLITHUS.
"
Ethiopia," Pliny says,

YELLOW

SAPPHIRE.

" which produces hyacinthus (sapphire) produces chrysolithus also, a transparent stone with a refulgence like that of gold. The stones of India are the most

highly esteemed." This stone is generally supposed to be the Oriental topaz or yellow sapphire, but as it is very rarely of a golden yellow, and usually of a pale straw colour, it

may be
is

the chrysoberyl, or Oriental chrysolite, a stone which said to almost vie with the yellow diamond in lustre, polish, and colour.

The yellow

jargoon, which

is

of a rich golden colour,

may

also put in a claim to be identified with the chryso-

lithus.

No genuine ancient intagli in any of these stones have been met with.
The only yellow
to us
stones,

we

believe, that

have come down

from antiquity are the pale citrine and yellow quartz. The chrysolithus of twelve pounds mentioned by Pliny

was doubtless yellow quartz.

ASTRION.

STAR SAPPHIRE.
to Pliny, is a stone resembling

The

astrion, according

In the centre crystal in its nature, and is found in India. of it there shines a brilliant star, with the refulgence like
that of the

moon when

full.

" that this stone receives

held opposite to the stars
returns
it."

its
it

" Some will have it," he says, name from the fact that when

No

absorbs the light they emit and description can better suit the asteriated

66

ANTIQUE GEMS.
which exhibit a
brilliant six-sided star

crystals of sapphire,
in its centre.

is

Pliny further on writes: "Among the white stones there one known as ceraunia,' which absorbs the brilliancy of
'

the stars.

It is of a crystalline formation, of a lustrous

Zenothemis azure colour, and is a native of Carmania. admits that it is white, but asserts that it has the figure of This is evidently the same stone, a blazing star within."

which frequently occurs of so pale a blue as to be almost

white.

LYCHNIS.

BALAS RUBY.
stones

Pliny mentions among the flame- coloured

lychnis, so called
light of the lamp,

the

from

its

lustre being heightened

its

by the

under which circumstances

It
is

tints are

particularly pleasing.

found in the same place where

garnets occur, in the vicinity of Orthosia, throughout the whole of Caria, but the most approved stones are those of
India,
tint.

which

last

He then

adds,

some have termed a carbunculus of milder " Between these last I find a difference

noticed, one kind having a purple lustre, the other a red

(cocco,

kermes)."

We

may, we think, be

justified

in

identifying the first with the almandine ruby, or violet-tinted spinel, and the latter with the balas, or rose-red variety of
spinel.

Mr. King mentions in balas the head of a Bacchante, crowned with ivy, a masterpiece belonging to the best days
of

Roman

glyptic art.

The name

EAAHN

appears in micro-

scopic letters at the side.

ASTERIA.
"

CYMOPHANE.
"

Next among the white

its

gem which holds

is asteria, a stones," Pliny says, a rank on account of certain pecuhigh

ANTIQUE GEMS.
liarity in its nature, it

67

having a light enclosed within, in the as of an it were. This light, which has all the eye pupil appearance of moving within the stone, it transmits according to the angle of inclination at which it is held, now in one direction, and now in another. When held facing the sun it emits white rays like those of a star, and to this, in
fact, it

owes

its

name."

This

is

undoubtedly the cymophane,

or chrysoberyl cat's-eye, which exhibits as it were the pupil of an eye moving about within the stone, and when held
facing the sun shows a pale opalescent ray on
its

surface.

SMARAGDUS.
According
being in the
to Pliny,
first,

EMERALD.

and pearls

the third rank in esteem (adamas in the second) was given to the

smaragdus.
" There
is

no stone," he

says,

" the colour of which

is

more delightful to the eye, for whereas the sight fixes itself with avidity upon the green grass and the foliage of trees, we have all the more pleasure in looking upon the smaragdus, there being no green in existence of a more intense
colour than this. " Of this

" there are no less than stone," he continues,

:

twelve different kinds

of the finest

is

dus, so called from the country

where

the Scythian smaragit is found. None

of them has a deeper colour than this, or is more free from defects ; indeed, in the same degree that the smaragdus is inferior to other precious stones, the Scythian smaragdus is
superior to the other varieties.
also in locality, is the

Next

in esteem to this, as

smaragdus of Bactria. The third rank is held by the stones of Egypt, which are extracted from the hills in the vicinity of Coptos, a city of Thebais." " All the other kinds are found in copper-mines, and F 2

68

ANTIQUE GEMS.
it is

hence

that, of these varieties, the

smaragdus of Cyprus

holds the highest rank." He characterizes the smaragdus of the copper-mines of Chalcedon as brittle, and of a colour
far

from distinctly pronounced, resembling in their

tints the

feathers that are seen in the tail of the peacock, or on the neck of pigeons. He also notices the smaragdi of Attica

and of Media, and other inferior varieties. In the opinion of Mr. Maskelyne, the first three, the Scythian, Bactrian, and Egyptian, were the true emerald; the Scythian coming no doubt from the Siberian locality near Bissersk, to the east of Ekatharinenberg the so-called Bactrian most
;

likely

came from a

locality

unknown

to us, to the north or

north-east of the Hindoo-Coosh, possibly from the Altai, where, in the Tigeretz mountains, beryls are now obtained.

discovery of the emerald-mines at Mount Zabara, in Egypt, near the Red Sea, by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, with the houses almost intact in which the workmen formerly

The

Egyptian locality for the emerald. Mr. King would identify the Scythian smaragdus, from its darkness and freedom from defects, with the green sapphire, There may be grounds for this view, or Oriental emerald. as the emerald from Siberia, with which Mr. Maskelyne connects it, is of a pale colour, very soft, brittle, and full of
lived, establishes Pliny's

flaws.

Others connect

it

with dioptase, a green

silicate

of

copper, found in copper-mines in Siberia. According to Mr. King, the smaragdi from Cyprus and Chalcedon were only crystals of transparent chrysocolla
still called the copper emerald. The from mentioned chalco-smaragdus, Cyprus, by Pliny, was The inferior varieties of emerald doubtless the same stone.

(a silicate of copper)

mentioned by Pliny are regarded as plasmas, and jaspers of

different shades of green.

The

largo

smaragdi mentioned by Theophrastus were

ANTIQUE GEMS,

69

most probably pieces of green jasper, while the colossal statue of Serapis, mentioned by Apiou, was in some vitreous
composition for which Alexandria was famous. The musician Ismenias, in the reign of Alexander, having heard of a smaragdus engraved with an Amymone, on sale
in
it,

Cyprus, at the price of six gold pieces, sent his agent for

who by bargaining procured it for four pieces, at which Ismenias took offence, as he considered the value of the stone was lowered thereby. " But," Mr. King observes, " the locality, the age, and the comparative trifling cost of the
stone, all go to prove that nothing more than a plasma here understood by the term smaragdus."
is

Among
was the

the famous emeralds mentioned in ancient writers

signet
it

of Polycrates,

an emerald with a lyre

really antique

engraved on
intagli

by Theodorus of Samos. True emeralds, Mr. King writes, with

upon them, are amongst the rarest of the rare, and appear scarcely one of them referable to an earlier date than
the age of Hadrian.

Mr. King enumerates a few examples of antique intagli one of the Emperor Hadrian's head, another of his consort Sabina, and a third the heads of both facing each
in emerald,

other.

The Devonshire parure

also exhibits

(Bandeau,

a large and beautiful emerald cut into a Gorgon's head in high relief, which has every mark of being an antique work of the same period.

No.

1 1)

An
Cneph,

intaglio head of the Solar Lion, the Alexandrian in a stone of the finest colour, purity, and lustre, was

in the late

Fould

collection.
f, is

A bearded
Due

head of Jupiter, in

an emerald 1J by
Paris.

in the

de Luyne's collection,

In the possession of the author is a small emerald, with It is considered to be a a lotus flower engraved on it.

70

ANTIQUE GEMS.

specimen of an emerald from the Egyptian mines, and perhaps the sole genuine example of an antique engraved emerald. Pliny remarks when the surface of the smaragdus is flat,
it

reflects the
;

mirror

image of ohjects in the same manner as a and adds that the Emperor Nero used to view the

combats of the gladiators upon a smaragdus. By holding the flat surface of the emerald in possession of the author, close to the eye, distant objects can be distinctly seen reflected in
it.

It

thus

confirms Pliny's

statement,

as

the

distinct

reflection of distant objects

on the slightly convex surface of the emerald must have been of great importance to a

near-sighted person, as

Nero was.
is

The name smaragdus

said to be the

Greek form of the

Persian samarrud or zmeroud.

BERYLLUS.
"

THE BERYL.

" it is Beryls," Pliny writes, thought are of the same nature as the smaragdus. India produces them, and they are

The most esteemed beryls rarely to be found elsewhere. are those which in colour resemble the pure green of the
the chrysoberyl being next in value, a stone of a somecolour, but approaching a golden tint." Pliny has here anticipated the modern discovery that beryls are
sea,

what paler

of the same chemical composition as the emerald. Those which resemble the green of the sea are the modern aquamarine, and the chrysoberyl is evidently the yellow beryl,

which
is

is

Canjargum

of a golden tint. The Indian locality of the beryl in the Deccan.

The

beryl

was seldom engraved

on,

and consequently

genuine antique intagli are rarely to be met with. We may quote a few of the finest examples. The earliest is the Taras on the dolphin (formerly in the Praun collection, now

ANTIQUE GEMS.
in

71

Winkelman

Mr. Maskelyne's), the design of which is placed by in the first class of Etruscan work. Amongst

the best specimens of

Roman

date are the

young Hercules,

Taras.

Julia,

daughter of Titus.

Hercules of Gnaios.

inscribed TNAIO3, in the Blacas collection, and the aquamarine of the extraordinary magnitude of 2-J- X 2J inches, engraved with the bust of Julia, the daughter of Titus,

and signed by the artist YOAOCflOIEI. the collection of the Imperial Library at Paris.

It

is

in

CARBUNCULTJS GARAMANTICUS.

THE GARNET.

The term carbunculus, being indiscriminately applied by the ancients to all red and fiery stones, comprises the several varieties of the garnet. The Greek synonymous word, as
given by Theophrastus,
coal.
if

He

describes

it

is avOpa, a name signifying a live as blood-red in colour (epv#/oos), but

held up against the sun assuming the appearance of a burning piece of charcoal.

The carbunculus garamanticus

of Pliny

is,

doubtless, the

72

ANTIQUE GEMS.

He divides it into male and female kinds, the first garnet. the more brilliant, and finer in colour, and the latter being
being the duller varieties. The garamantic, he tells us, has been also called the carchedonian, in compliment to the former opulence of Car-

thage (Kapx^Swv). The male and female kinds of the carbunculus garamanticus, in every probability, comprised all the varieties of the
garnet, and the different colours, ranging from
a*

brilliant

red to the deeper and duller tints. Pliny notes also the ^Ethiopian and the Alabandic stones,
the latter of which are found at Orthosia, in Caria, but are

cut and polished at Alabanda.

highly-esteemed, however," Pliny says, "is the amethyst-coloured stone, the fire at the extremity of which

"The most

approached the violet tint of the amethyst." This, undoubtedly, is the modern almandine garnet of a beautiful
closely
violet purple

colour.

The term almandine

is

said to be

derived from Alabanda, where it was cut and polished in ancient times. Next in value he notes " the syrtites," radiant with a

wavy, feathery refulgence (pinnato fulgore,) an appearance which is sometimes to be seen in the interior of some red
garnets.

The carchedonia, described by Pliny as of inferior value, and found in the mountains among the Nasamones, and of which Carthage was in former times the entrepot, was,
doubtless, a
it

commoner variety of garnet. He says he finds stated that in former times drinking-vessels used to be
this

made of

stone,

and adds,

this

kind

offers

the most
is

obstinate resistance to the graver, and, if used for seals, apt to bring away a part of the wax.

Pliny observes that the carbuncles of India admit of

ANTIQUE GEMS.
being hollowed, and making vessels that will hold as as one sextarius even.

73

much

In "Jamieson's Mineralogy," vol.

lowing passage, which confirms
this:
fist.

i.

p.

152,

is

the fol-

"

sometimes occur the size of a

Crystals (of garnets) These are cut into

small vases, which are very highly valued, particularly if they are free from flaws, and possess a good colour, and
considerable degree of transparency." Mr. King tells us he has seen an antique cup, hollowed out of a single garnet, as large as a half goose-egg, which
internally with the name of its ancient owner, The Codrus. inventory of the French crown jewels, drawn in mentions "an oval cup of a single garnet, rich 1791, up in colour, 3 x 2J inches wide, and 3 high, valued at 12,000

was engraved

francs (480Z.)" " Pliny also says that in

some of the male carchedonian

stones, there are luminous points like stars within;" these are. in all probability, the star garnet.

Garnets, Mr.

King

says,

seem

to

have been

little

employed

by the Greeks for engraving upon, but were largely in favour with the Romans of the empire, though not at a
very early date. There are some rare instances of the almandine garnet being used by Greek artists, but from its great
hardness the work on
it

is

generally but rudely finished.

traits,

and sometimes imperial poroccur in the almandine, but no certain Greek, or early Grasco-Roman, work is recorded in the blood-red garnet.
Fine
intagli frequently,

Roman

a late period the portraits of Sassanian kings frequently appear in the almandine. Some intagli are also met with in the guarnaccino or brown-red garnet.

At

The "Head
Collection,
is

unusual size

Sirius," in the Marlborough a perfect Indian garnet of on engraved and beauty. On the collar of the dog is

of the dog

74

ANTIQUE GEMS.
FAIOSEIIOIEI.
It
is,

engraved
antiquity.

however, of

doubtful

fine engravings, and also camei, occur in the and the hyacinthine garnet. The chryselectrum, which Pliny describes of the colour which inclines to amber, was probably the essonite, while the deep, rich-coloured stone the hyacinthine garnet was doubtless the morio of The morio, he remarks, when of the colour of the Pliny. carbunculus, is from Alexandria; when it shares that of

Many

essonite,

the sard,

is

from the Cyprus.

carving in
relief.

They

are both, he adds, well

adapted

have some splendid artists in Graeco-Roman of examples among gems wellmost the essonite and hyacinthine garnet. Among known in the hyacinthine garnet are the Julius Cassar
for

We

the finest

beautiful
lection.

of Dioscorides, the Apollo Citharoedus, deeply cut, in a example of this stone: both are in the Blacas col-

In the Florentine collection

is

a fine head on a

hyacinthine garnet cut en cabochon, representing the portrait The MaBcenas of Apolof Philetaerus, King of Pergamus.
lonius, formerly in the

Hertz collection,

is

in the

same

stone.

A fine

example

is

in the author's collection, carrying Lao-

dicsea, as

a female figure with her hand on the round pharos

of the harbour of that town.

These latter stones have been frequently confounded by some writers and collectors with the hyacinth or jacinth (red zircon), and much confusion has arisen from this misIn some public collections also, antique camei and take.
intagli in the hyacinthine garnet are ticketed as jacinths.

TOPAZIOS.

CHRYSOLITE.

Topazios, according to Pliny, is a stone that is held in very high estimation for its green tint. The name is said

ANTIQUE GEMS.
to be derived

75

from Topazos, an island in the Red Sea,

stones.

whence the ancients procured these

considered to be indubitably our

The

stone

is

chrysolite

a greenish-

yellow stone.
stone

recent writers, according to Pliny, say that this found also in the vicinity of Alabastron, a city of Thebais, and they distinguish two varieties of it the chryis

The most

sopteron (the chrysolite) and the prasoides (the peridot). He adds further, " The topazios is the largest of all precious stones, and is the only one among those of high value
that yields to the action of the file, the rest being polished by the aid of the stone of Naxos (emery). It admits, too, of being worn by use." The chrysolite is in reality of a

very soft nature, and wears at the edges. sometimes occur of considerable size.

Crystals of

it

The modern

topaz was totally

unknown

to the ancients.

TOPAZIOS PRASOIDES.

THE PERIDOT.

imitation of the colour of the leek-leaf,

This stone, which Pliny describes as aiming at the exact is our peridot, of a

yellowish green.

Some fine Greek intagli, Mr. King says, occur in peridot, to be ascribed from their style to the date of its
introduction at the Alexandrian Court, but they are of the highest rarity. The Romans appear never to have used the topazios prasoides for engraving on, deterred either
first

by

its

softness,

entailing

intaglio,

or else

by
it,

Modern works on
and
peridot,

the speedy destruction of the high value as a precious stone. on the contrary, are abundant enough,
its

to this class will the majority of

when

A fine

supposed antiques in be found to belong. critically examined, in of an peridot, engraved by example intaglio

76

ANTIQUE GEMS.
whose name
is

Calandrelli,
stone,

in

Greek characters on the

may

be seen in the Townshend collection, S.K.M.

CHRYSOPRASIUS.

GREEN JARGOON.

Pliny mentions a stone of the name of chrysoprasius,

closely allied to the chrysoberyl in its brilliancy, but of a

more

pallid

colour,
;

separate genus

and thought by some to constitute a he again describes it further on as similar

in its green colour to the chrysopteron.

This stone may, perhaps, be the green jargoon, which is usually of a pale green tint, and remarkable for its brilliancy.

MELICHRYSOS.
Melichrysos
all
is

YELLOW JARGOON.

described by Pliny as a stone which has

the appearance of pure honey seen through transparent India produces these stones. This stone is probably gold.
the yellow jargoon, often met with in India. It is generally of a golden, honey-yellow colour; or it may be the yellow tourmaline, which comes from Ceylon.

LYNCURIUM.
"

The

pertinacity," Pliny writes,

" that has been

dis;

played by certain authors compels me to speak of lyncurium for even those who maintain that it is not a variety of

amber

assert, too, that

it is a precious stone. They the product of the urine of the lynx and of a kind of earth, the animal covering up the urine the

still

assure us that
it is

it, from a jealousy that man should hardens into of it, a combination which gain possession stone. The colour of it, they inform us, like that of some

moment

it

has voided

kinds of amber,

is

of a fiery hue, and

it

being engraved.

They

assert,

too,

that

admits, they say, of this substance

ANTIQUE GEMS.

77

attracts to itself not only leaves or straws, but thin plates of

believes,

copper even or of iron, a story which Theophrastus even on the faith of a certain Droiles. For my own

part, I look

upon the whole of these statements as untrue,

been a

and

I do not believe that in our time there has ever

precious stone seen with such a name as this." I may here adopt Pliny's words, and say that the perti-

nacity of some writers, in persisting to identify lyncurium with the hyacinth, or jacinth, has compelled me to notice it
to keep totally out of view Pliny's in his time there was no stone with such belief that express a name. Theophrastus certainly mentions lyncurium as a
here.

They seem

stone, but it was undoubtedly amber, for Pliny states elsewhere that lyncurium was a name given to amber by Demostratus, who tells the same absurd myth about the origin of amber as Theophrastus and other writers have

told of the origin of lyncurium.

This misconception with regard to lyncurium

may have

arisen from Theophrastus terming amber a stone (At'0os). The true hyacinth, or jacinth, was undoubtedly unknown

to the ancients, as no antique

gems of

that stone

have

hitherto been discovered

besides the hyacinth is generally ; found of too small a size for the purpose of an engraved

gem, and

it is

also too

hard to engrave.

so-called hyacinths, or jacinths, in collections of in descriptive catalogues of antique intagli, are in or gems,
reality hyaciuthine garnets.

The

SAPPHIRUS.

LAPIS LAZULI.

Sapphirus, Pliny says, is refulgent with spots like gold. is of an azure colour, though sometimes, but rarely, purple; the best kind comes from Media. Theophrastus
It

78

ANTIQUE GEMS.

describes Sapphirus as spotted with gold-dust, and Isidorus " says, Sapphirus cseruleus est cum purpura, habens pulveres

aureos sparsos."
lazuli,

These descriptions answer to our lapis which are frequently disseminated particles through

of iron pyrites, bearing a great resemblance to gold. The principal supply of lapis lazuli at the present day is from Persia and Bokhara, to which, doubtless, the Media
of Pliny

may

be extended.

Lapis lazuli abundantly occurs in Egyptian jewellery, worked into signet-tablets, pendants, and charms. It was
rarely used for cylinders
fine

by the Assyrians, though some Greek work on this stone is extremely uncommon, but intagli and camei of the Roman
examples do
exist.

times are frequent in this material. In the Blacas collection is a head of Perseus, king of Macedon, in lapis lazuli. It was largely employed by the Persians under the

Sassanian dynasty for regal portraits and With the Italians of the Cinque Cento
favourite, particularly for vases

seals.
it

was an

especial

and

for miniature busts

and

small relievi.

SOLIS GEMMA.

MOONSTONE.

description of the solis gemma given by Pliny as " white, but diffusing brilliant rays in a circle, after the fashion of that luminary," appears to suit the Adularian
felspar, known as the moonstone, from the silvery radiancy of the large orb that illumines its convex surface.

The

SELENITES.

ADULARIA.

Pliny's selenites appears to be a variety of adularia " white and transparent, with a reflected colour like that of It has a figure within it like that of the moon, and honey.
reflects

the face of that luminary,

if

what we are

told

is

ANTIQUE GEMS.
true, according to its

79

It may be, however, our of lime, the thin laminae of which reflect the disk of the sun or moon.

phases."

selenite, a crystallized sulphate

The

plates of this substance

were

split,

and employed by

the ancients for the lights of windows.

SANDASTROS

(male).

SUNSTONE.

According to Pliny, there were two stones of the name of sandastros, the one male, and the other female ; the first
of which he describes as " having all the appearance of fire, placed behind a transparent substance, it' burning with starlike scintillations within that resemble drops of gold,

and

are always to be seen in the body of the stone, and never can have no upon the surface. It is found in India."

We

hesitation in connecting this stone with sunstone, a variety of adularia (ortholase felspar) of a pale yellow colour, and

which appears

full of minute golden spangles, owing to the of oxide of iron disseminated through it. of scales presence from Ceylon. it come of Examples

CHRYSOPRASIUS.

AMAZON STONE.

" as similar in tint to Chrysoprasius is described by Pliny the colouring matter of the leek, but varying in colour It is found of so large a size as between topazios and gold.
to

admit of cups even being made of

it,

and

is

cut into

cylinders very frequently." This stone was evidently an opaque stone, from its being associated with prasius, and is not to be confounded with

the other chrysoprasius, mentioned before, and which

was

remarkable for

its

brilliancy,

and consequently must have

been a transparent stone.

We
stone,

would venture to identify this stone with Amazon which is brought from Lake Baikal in Siberia, and

80

ANTIQUE GEMS.
sometimes found in pieces sufficiently large to be made and other ornaments; 5 and lately fragments

is

into small vases

this stone has

of a pedestal either of a statue or a column sculptured of been discovered in the ruins of the villa of
" called by the Assyrians the of Belus, and which was of a leek-green colour, and

M. Vopiscus at Tivoli. The eumithres, which was

gem

greatly in request for superstitious purposes," was evidently the same stone. It was frequently used by the Assyrians The signet of Sennacherib in the British for cylinders.

Museum

is

of this stone.

chrysoprase, a green chalcedony coloured with oxide of nickel, was not known to the ancients. It is only found in Silesia.

The modern

NILION.

JADE.

India, according to Pliny, produces nilion, a stone

differs

which

from chrysoprasius in its dull, diminished lustre. " " According to Juba," Pliny says, Ethiopia produces it,
;

upon the shores of the river known to us as the Nilus to which circumstance, he says, it owes its name." According
to Sudines
it is

to be found also in the Siberus, a river of

Attica.

This stone, in

all likelihood,
is

may be

the well-known stone

jade, or nephrite, which

generally of a dull opaque green.

localities 'which Pliny mentions, where nilion is found, It is largely correspond with those where jade occurs. It is also employed in India for ornamental purposes.

The

found in Egypt.

Axes, and some smaller implements of jade have been

5

According to Castellani (Gems,

p. 29), Caire

speaks of a beau-

tiful

antique vase, Florence.

made

of

Amazon

stone,

and which he saw in

ANTIQUE GEMS.

81

that

discovered by Mr. Finlay in Attica ; made, doubtless, from which occurs in the river Siberus.

Among Roman

antiquaries jade

is

termed pietra d'E^itto.

TANOS.

JADEITE.

Pliny describes a stone which is "included among the It comes from Persia, smaragdi, and known as tauos.' and is of an unsightly green, and of a soiled colour within."
*

We calls this stone a pseudo-smaragdus. with jadeite, a translucent variety of zoizite, held among the most precious substances in China and throughout the East. The Chalchituitls (jadeite) found in
Theophrastus

would connect

it

Mexico, and so much prized by the Aztecs, was considered by the Spaniards to be an inferior emerald (baja esmeraMa}.
CALLAIS.

TURQUOISE.

Callais, Pliny says, "is like sapphirus in colour, only that it is paler and more closely resembling the tint of the

This we have water near the seashore in appearance." of the present was the to reason conclude turquoise every
day.

In the Marlborough Collection is a cameo of great rarity a small portrait of a Greek prince in a turquoise beautifully azure.

Antique intagli in this stone are said not to exist, except a few examples in the Sassanian class. The Renaissance artists employed it largely for small heads en ronde bosse,

and

also for camei.

usually

regarded as antique,

All the small works in turquoise, may be considered to have

their origin from them.

CALLAINA.

GREEN TURQUOISE.
is

According to Pliny, the stone known as callaina

of

82

ANTIQUE GEMS.
is

a pale green colour. It to the north of India,

found in the countries that

It

lie

among the Phycari, who

is

inhabit

Mount Caucasus,
able for
its size,

the Sacse and the Dahae.

is

remarkof extra-

but

covered with holes and

full

neous matter; that, however, which is found in Carmania is of a finer quality, and far superior. It is only amid inaccessible rocks that
it

is

like an eye in appearance,

found, protruding from the surface, and slightly adhering to the rock.

The
oil,

finest of

best of these stones have the colour of smaragdus. The them lose their colour by coming in contact with

unguents, or even undiluted wine ; whereas those of a poorer quality preserve their colour better.

This stone has by most writers been identified with the

green variety of turquoise, on which the Romans set the Turquoise is still found in large quantities highest value.
in a

mountainous

district of Persia, not far

it

from Nishapur,

in Khorasan,

where

occurs in veins which traverse the

mountain

identity of callaina with the remark of Pliny that by it loses its colour by coming in contact with oil or grease, for turquoise loses its colour by contact with oil or grease,
in all directions.

The

this stone

is

further confirmed

or

when kept near musk

"

or camphor,

and

also

from damp-

ness.

rare antique works in turquoise," Mr. King " which have come down to us, are all executed in says, the green sort, the principal being the bust of Tiberius
(Florence), the head as large as a walnut, sculptured in full and the busts of Li via and the same emperor as a
child, in half relief,

The very

relief;

on a stone of

much

(Marlborough Collection).
Collection.

A mask of

larger dimensions the Indian Bacchus

is

in front face, of a large green turquoise,

in the Blacas

The Mexicans

also used green turquoise for ornamental

ANTIQUE GEMS.

83

In the Christy Museum is a mask formed out of purposes. part of a human skull, coated with mosaic work, consisting
chiefly of turquoise

and obsidian.

fossil ivory of Theophrastus, is, probably, the odontolite, or bone turquoise de la nouvelle
cAe</>a<;

The

opvKros, or

The word yu,eAaiva, applied to it by Theophrastus, evidently means deep blue, as Dr. Hill suggests, as he applies a similar word to sapphirus or lapis- lazuli.
roche.

OPALUS.
"

OPAL.

" it is opal that precious stones," Pliny says, presents the greatest difficulties of description, displaying at once the piercing fire of carbunculus, the purple bril-

Of

all

liancy of amethystus, and sea-green of smaragdus, the whole blended together, and refulgent with a brightness that is

India is the sole parent of these precious This stone, in consequence of its extraordinary beauty, has been called 'paederos' (lovely youth), by many authors; and some who make a distinct species of it say
quite incredible.
stones.

that

it

is

the same as the stone that in India

is

called

sangenon.

These

last-mentioned

stones,

it

is

said,

are

found in Egypt, also Arabia, and of very inferior quality in Pontus." Pliny mentions also, as being in existence in his
time, a stone of the size of a hazel nut,

on account of which

Antonius proscribed the senator Nonius. On being proscribed, Nonius took to flight, carrying with him, out of all
his wealth, nothing but that stone, the value of estimated at vicies U.S., 20,000. of our money.

which was

There can be no doubt of this stone, described by Pliny, being the opal of modern times. " Some " doubt the mineralogists," Mr. King writes, fact that any region of the East Indies ever produced the true, merely because no such gem is now brought from

G 2

84

ANTIQUE GEMS.

thence; but the same argument applies here as in the case of the true emerald, not at this moment found in that
country, formerly the principal source of the stone." " The " is so rare a precious opal," Mr. Maskelyne says, that with our stone, mining enterprise and geological

research over the far vaster world of modern geography, we know of only two certain localities for it, in Hungary

and Mexico."
rounded pieces

It is said,
in
it.

however, to be found in small

sand,

in Ceylon,

whence probably the

Romans obtained

Mr. Maskelyne mentions a quartz in the trap rocks of the ghauts above Bombay, which sometimes shows an iridescence on certain of its crystal plains that seems to be
due
to the presence of this

sangenon

of India.

The

kind of opal. This may be the stones of Egypt and Arabia

are likely to be of a similar substance. " as well " From its enormous value," Mr. King writes, must have been the as on account of its fragile nature, opal
rarely submitted to the skill of the
earlier

Hence

engraver, for the totally unacquainted with the gem." Professor Urlicks justly pronounces unique the opal

Roman

Greeks were

of the (former) Praun Collection, engraved with the head of Sol between those of Jupiter and Luna. The somewhat debased style," Mr. King remarks, " shows it to be a work

Lower Empire." Another magnificent opal, though corroded by time, set in a cabalistic ring of the thirteenth century, is now in the Braybrooke Collection.
of the

MITHRAX.

MATRIX OP OPAL.

The mithrax, which Pliny tells us comes from Persia and the mountains of the Red Sea, a stone of numerous
colours,

and

reflecting various tints

when exposed
opal,

to the

sun,

may be

identified

with the matrix of

which

ANTIQUE GEMS.
exhibits

85

various opalescent tints, from the veins of opal

running through the porphyry stone.

ANTHRACITIS.
" There
is

HYDROPHANE.

known
ance,

a stone," Pliny says, " found in Thesprotia, as anthracitis, resembling a burning coal in appear-

and which when drenched with water becomes Some of these stones," he adds, " are doubly glowing. said to be surrounded with a vein of white." These peculiarities would lead us to identify this stone with hydrophane, which acquires all the beautiful opalescent tints of the opal when immersed in water. The vein of white is
evidently cacholong, which
is

frequently associated with

hydrophane.

CRYSTALLUS.

CRYSTAL.

was supposed by the ancients to be a kind it was a substance which assumed a concrete form from excessive congelation. Hence its name from the Greek /cpvo?, cold. According to Pliny, the best crystal came from India, but that found on the Alpine heights was also highly valued. It was never used for iutagli by the Greeks or in the Roman period. It was exclusively employed for vases and cups. Nero is known to have possessed two very sumptuous
crystal

Rock
ice,

of

and that

vases of this material sculpture, with subjects from the Iliad, both of which we are told he dashed to pieces in a

paroxysm of rage, when he received the tidings that all was lost. Pliny relates that there was such a mania for it, that a Roman lady, who was by no means rich, gave
150,000 sesterces for
a single bowl,

made of

crystal.

According

to Pliny,

vase of crystal,

Xenophanes speaks of having seen a which held one amphora. Pliny also men-

86

ANTIQUE GEMS.
as

tions,

the largest

work of

crystal that has ever been

beheld, the one that was consecrated by Julia Augusta in the Capitol, and which weighed about 150 pounds.

Under the Lower Empire, much in use for making solid

crystal seems to 'iave been

finger-rings, carve
1

out of a

single piece, the face engraved with some intaglio serving for a signet.

In

Italy,

intagli

in crystal

during the Renaissance period, some important have been executed. Valerio Vicentino
for this style of

was famous
of

work.
is

In the Cinque-cento
a magnificent casket

Collection in the
silver, gilt,

museum

at

Naples

with engraved plaques of crystal, representing mythological subjects, and various events in the history of Alexander the Great, in complimentary allusion to the
achievements of Alessandro Farnese, to whom it belonged. casket of rock It bears the name of Joannes di Bernardi.

crystal,

on which are engraved the events of the Passion,

is

by Valerio Vicentino,

in the

cabinet

of

gems

in the

It was a present from Pope Clement Florentine Gallery. VII. to Francis I., on the marriage of his niece, Catherine
di Medici.

times, for the purpose of fraud.

Crystal has been often used, both in ancient and modern In Pliny's time the art
to stain crystal,

was well known how

so as

to pass for

emerald or any other transparent precious stone.

AMETHYSTUS.

AMETHYST.

Among stones of a purple colour, Pliny gives the first rank to the amethyst of India, a stone which is also found, he says, in the part of Arabia that adjoins Syria, and is known in Petra, as also in Lesser Armenia, Egypt, and Galatia ; the very worst of of Pharos and Cyprus.
all

and the least valued being those Another variety approaches more

ANTIQUE GEMS.
:

87

nearly the hyacinthus (sapphire) in colour the people of India call this tint socon, and the stone itself socondion.

Another was
but
little

in colour like that of wine,

and a

valued, bordering very closely upon the purple gradually passing off into white.

last variety that of crystal,

A fine

ame-

thyst should always have, when viewed sideways (in suspectu), and held up to the light, a certain purple effulgence, like

To that of carbunculus, slightly inclining to a tint of rose. these stones the names of pcederos and ' Venus' eyelid
'

Veneris gena, 'A^poS^TTys /3Ae</>apov) were given, being considered as particularly appropriate to the colour and general appearance of the gem.
(

The name which

these stones bear, originates,

it

is said,

which, after closely approaching the colour of wine, passes off into a violet, without being fully pronounced. "All these stones," " are and of an agreeable violet transparent, Pliny adds, and are to Those of India have in colour, engrave. easy
perfection the very richest shades of purple." At the present day the finest amethysts come from India,

in the peculiar tint of their brilliancy,

and lapidaries apply the term Oriental

to the amethystine a brilliant violet of tint, and of two quartz very shades of colour (qualities distinguishing the Indian from the German). This stone must be, however, carefully distin-

when

guished from the true Oriental amethyst, which is a sapphire of a violet colour. " and in " Intagli of all dates," Mr. King says, every style, occur upon amethysts, but so much more generally on
the pale sort that an engraving upon one of a rich dark colour, may, on that very ground, be suspected as modern.

Although the amethyst came into use amongst the earliest nd in it an materials used by the gem engraver, for we abundance of Egyptian charms (pendants for necklaces), in

ANTIQUE GEMS.
the form of vases, shells, bands, &c., and sometimes Scarabsei, the last of Etruscan work also, and Roman intagli in it
are sufficiently numerous, yet it is a singular fact that we rarely meet with works in the highest style executed in this material. Probably the superior kind was too precious to be so employed, whilst the paleness of the other and cheaper
sorts

Mr. King Marlborough Omphale, on an amethyst (of the Indian kind) of superior lustre and richness of colour, and the Berlin Atalanta engraved on a large
intagli occur in this stone.

was repugnant Some fine Greek

to the taste of first-rate artists."

mentions,

among

others, the

circular

convex

stone.

Among

other celebrated engravings

Diana of Appollonius.

Pallas of Eutyches.

Medusa.

in amethyst are the Pallas of Eutyches, deeply engraved on'

a pale amethyst, the Achilles Citharredus of Pamphilus The Diana, of Appollonius (Naples), the Medusa (Paris).
(Blacas), the Mecasnas of Dioscorides (Paris), a head of Pan, deeply sunk in a pale amethyst inscribed 2KYAAH, in

the Blacas Collection.

In the Devonshire Collection

is

a
I.

magnificent amethyst intaglio, bearing the bust of Shappur

" Natural

History of Gems,"

p. 31.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
This stone (\\ x 1 inch 8 forms the centre in the comb oval) belonging to the parure of antique gems, the property of the Duke of Devonshire.
of the race of the Sassanides. 7

In the Florentine collection

is

a large amethyst with the

" Heads, and portrait of Mithridates the Great. " both in full and in half busts," Mr. King writes,

even
relief,

often occur of antique workmanship in this stone, as some perfectly-preserved remains show they served to complete statuettes in the precious metals. The grandest of Medusa heads, the Blacas, is carved out of an amethyst of the darkest violet,

two inches

in diameter."

According to some authorities, the name amethyst has been derived from a not, peOvw to intoxicate, on account of its being a supposed preservative against inebriety. Von

Hammer
the word.

suggests the Persian shemest as the true origin of

CRATERITES.
Craterites,

YELLOW QUARTZ.
in colour a

which Pliny describes as

medium

between chrysolithus and amber, and as remarkable for its hardness, may be a yellow quartz which is often met with
of a rich orange yellow, partaking of the colour of amber. Pliny's Pontic Chrysolectri, and his Chrysolithus, twelve

pounds in weight, may be also identified with yellow quartz. Yellow crystal was seldom engraved upon by the ancients. Only a few examples are known. The best are a head of Julia Titi (Rhodes), a replica of the famous beryl of
According to Mr. Thomas, the legend surrounding the central it constituted the royal signet of Bahrain Kerman Shah, the son and second eventual successor of Sapor the Great, (Postumus, A.D. 310. 381), so celebrated in the wars of the
7

portrait proves that

Lower Empire
Constantius.
3

as the too-successful

opponent of the Byzantine

See frontispiece.

90

ANTIQUE GEMS.

Evodus, and a large double uneven stone of great lustre, covered with a Gnostic formula on both sides (British

Museum).

An

intaglio
is

with the head of Horace, in the

Blacas Collection,

also of yellow crystal.

Cinque-cento and recent engravers have largely turned

to account this material.

Citrine or yellow-green quartz was sometimes used by the ancients for intagli. This stone and yellow quartz are

the only yellow stones

antiquity.
It

which have come down to us from would appear that yellow stones were not in favour with the Romans, with the exception of those partaking of an orange tint. Yellow was, however, a colour

much

affected

by the Greeks

in their choice of

gems

with

the Romans, as children of Mars, red was the favourite.

IRIS.

Pliny mentions this stone as found in a certain island of

the

Red

Sea, forty miles distant from the city of Berenice.

It is partly

composed of

crystal,

and

is

hexahedral in form,

like crystal.

It takes its

which
walls

it

the sun in the

possesses ; for, a covered spot

name iris from the properties when struck by the rays of

it projects upon the nearest form and diversified colours of the rainbow.

Opinion seems divided as

to

whether

this is

Hyaline quartz
iris)

iridized internally (called at

the present day

or the

prismatic crystals of limpid quartz, which rays of the sun.

decompose the

SANDASTROS

(female).

AVANTURINE.

sandastros, which Pliny describes as possessa of a more softened nature, and which may be flame ing to lustrous rather than brilliant, is doubtless be pronounced the stone termed avanturine. Pliny further writes that

The female

ANTIQUE GEMS.

91

" Isinenias asserts that sandastros, in consequence of its extreme softness, will not admit of being polished." This can alone be applied to the male sandastros (sunstone),

which being a felspar

is

softer in its nature than the female

sandastros (avanturine quartz). One point, Pliny adds, upon which all the authorities are agreed is, that the greater the number of stars upon this stone the more costly it is in
price.

The best specimens of sunstone and avanturine present a number of starlike specks in it, the first being
scales of oxide of iron,

and

in the second

minute spangles

of mica.

in

Hammichrysos, which Pliny describes as resembling sand appearance, but sand mixed with gold, was evidently

another name for this stone.

SANDARESOS.

GREEN AVANTURINE.

Pliny tells us that a stone of the name of sanclaresos is mentioned by Nicander as a native of India as well as
sandastros.

The

colour of
sets

it

is

that of an apple, or of

green

any value on it. This is undoubtedly the green avanturine, which comes from India.
oil,

and no one

SARDIUS.

SARD.

is the rich and bright red, or or red Oriental carnelian. According chalcedony, yellowish to Pliny it derived its name from Sardis, where it was first

The

sardius of the ancients

found, but

modern writers derive

it

from

zerd, the Persian

for yellow, the yellow sard being

the stone most affected

by the Greeks. The red was the favourite of the Romans. <k The most esteemed kind," Pliny says, " was from the
In India there are three varieties of vicinity of Babylon. ' this stone ; the red sarda, the one known as pionia,' from
its

thickness,

and a third kind, beneath which they place a

92

ANTIQUE GEMS.
tinsel.

ground of silver

The Indian

stones are translucent,

There are some those of Arabia being more opaque. found also in the vicinity of Leucas in Epirus, and in Egypt, which have a ground placed beneath them of leaf
gold."

India (Cambay)

still

furnishes the finest kinds of sard or

red cornelian.

Pliny divides these stones into male and female, the male being more brilliant than the female, which

is

more opaque.
"

" exhibited gradations of colour," Mr. King writes, by the antique sard are almost innumerable. The bright cherry deepens into the fiery red of the carbuncle, and

The

thence into a semi-opaque black, only red when viewed by transmitted light. The bright pale yellow increases in intensity to the richest orange, and thence to a reddish-

brown

scarcely to

be

distinguished

from the jacinth

"

(hyacinthine garnet). " " In this stone," we further quote Mr. King, nearly all the performances of the most celebrated antique artists are to

be found, for as a general rule fine work was never thrown away upon an inferior or too obdurate a material; and there

was good cause

facility in

for this preference ;

such was

its

toughness,

working, beauty of colour, and the high polish

it

of which

is

susceptible,

which

last,
9

Pliny remarks,

it

retains longer than

any other gem."

Greek artists usually adopted the pale sard for the finer and more delicate works, but we find the blood-red sard and the brown sard occasionally employed by the engraver.

The finest Roman intagli are for the most part found in the bright-red sard, being the variety held most in esteem by the Romans.
9

"Natural History of Gems," " Sardius."

ANTIQUE GEMS.
In the collection of the author
is

93

a beautiful specimen of

an intaglio in the bright-red sard (If by 1 inch, oval). The subject is a Victory with trophies, inscribed 2OAQNOS. It

was formerly
"

in the

Demidoff Collection.

The

light-yellow sort," Mr.

King
this

says,

" was

much em-

ployed at

an

earlier period.

On

Greek artists, but drawn highly-finished figure's of the most minute stiffly execution, surrounded with borders, which were formerly termed Etruscan, but now are with more reason ascribed to Some good Roman works occur the Archaic Greek school. in this variety, but they are few in number, and of an early
the finest works of the
date, thus scarcely confirming Pliny's statement as to the disrepute into which the yellow-coloured had fallen." The pale rich yellow, or golden sard, was the favourite

most frequently occur more especially those

stone of the

Greek

artist.

In the yellow sard, which is less transparent and where lurks the brightness of the golden sard, several Archaic Greek and Roman engravings occur. The Archaic Greek
intaglio of Hercules discharging his lian birds is yellow sard.

arrows at the Stympha-

hyacinthine sard is the term applied to a rich and glorious variety of this stone which possesses the orange-

The

red

termed
is

with almost the transparency of the kind of garnet in France One beautiful hyacinthe la belle. example of this stone, bearing an intaglio of a Bacchante,
tint,

in the Blacas Collection.

Sardine,

the

sardoine

of the

French,

is

a dark-red

translucent, but sometimes very transparent sard, the aspect

of which

is

almost black,

its

fine colour

when

it is

looked through.

It often carries noble

being only seen work of

the late Greek, and early Imperial Roman periods, but still oftener the works of the Cinque-cento and modern artists.

94

ANTIQUE GEMS.

When the sard-like layers of the onyx are of inferior or opaque quality, the stone passes into jasper-onyx. " which are like " Those stones," Pliny says, honey in colour, are generally disapproved, and still more so when
1

they have the complexion of earthenware." In this dull red, earthy kind (the common carnelian) are the most ancient
the Egyptian and Etruscan scarabsei, and the greater part of the other ring-stones engraved in
intagli usually cut,

Etruria.

SARDONYX.
It has been denned by Pliny as originally signifying a white layer over sard (candor in sarda), like the human nail placed upon flesh, both parts of the stones being equally

transparent.

Such, according to

Ismenias,

Demostratus,

Zenothemis, and Sotacus, was the sardonyx of India. " " At the present day," Pliny says, the Arabian sardonyx
presents no traces whatever of the Indian sard (i. e. of a transparent red layer), it being a stone that has been found to be characterized by several different colours of late
;

black or azure for the base, and vermilion, surrounded with a line of rich white, for the upper part, not without a certain

glimpse of purple as the white passes into red. " the " In the stones of India," he says, ground

is

like

wax

in colour, or else like cornel,

it.

with a

circle also of
is

white

around

In some of these stones, too, there

colours like those of the rainbow, while the surface

a play of is redder

than even the shell of the sea-locust." " Pliny relates that in the time of Zenothemis these stones

were not held by the people of India in any high esteem, although they were found there of so large a size as to
admit of the
1

hilts

of swords being

made of them.

It

is

well

Maskelyne.

Introduction to Catalogue of Maryborough Gems.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

95

known, too, that in that country they are exposed to view by the mountain streams, and that in our part of the world they were formerly valued from the fact that they are
nearly the only ones among engraved precious stones that do not bring away the wax when an impression is made. The consequence is, that our example thus at last taught
the people of India to set a value upon them, and the lower classes there now prize them even to wear as ornaments for the great proof, in fact, at the present day, of a sardonyx being of Indian origin." Pliny also mentions that the first Roman who wore a sardonyx, according to
;

the neck

Demostratus, was the elder Africanus, since whose time this stone has been held in very high esteem in Rome.

With most

ancient writers three colours were considered

essential to the idea of a

TUJV Tpi\o)fjuov

sardonyx

hence termed by Lucian

fpvOpa eTrtTroX^s, as appears also from \f/f)(f>o<s what Pliny says as to the manner of forging it (xxxvii. 75). " Sardonyx gems are made up out of three stones cemented

together so neatly that the fraud cannot be discovered, by selecting one a black, another a white, the third a red, each one the best in its respective kind." In the same sense

Martial makes his lady-killer boast of a real sardonyx thrice

girt

with zones.
'"

Sardonyeha verum liueisque ter cinctum."

Though three layers at least were required to constitute a true sardonyx (with only two it remained an onyx), yet these might be repeated indefinitely without altering its Kohler lays down " that it was a sardonyx as designation. colours lay in regular layers one over different as the long
the other.
It was sardonyx, whether the white stratum united with a male or female (dark or light) sard ; whether the stone possessed three, four, five, or nine strata. For the

96

ANTIQUE GEMS.

name sardonyx implied the regular union of the sard with a white layer now the sard exhibited innumerable gradations into red, yellow, brown, and black."
;

In the opinion of Mr. King, a perfect Oriental sardonyx

still

is

required to exhibit the same characters as when Pliny The base must be black (in reality a transdefined them.
lucent chocolate colour

when held

against the sun), the

middle zone opaque fatty white, the surface a light brown

or red. 2

The Romans
employed
it

in their jewellery

rarely engraved intagli on sardonyx. They and rings, cut either en

cabochon, or in a truncated cone of an oval section, more or less high, so proportioned as to display the three zones to

When intagli are found in a sarthe greatest perfection. donyx they are always sunk but slightly into, or rather
sketched upon, the surface, so as to be invisible at a
distance.
It
trifling

was

for camei that this material

was

specially reserved

the various shades, taken advantage of with singular dexterity by the artist, enabled him to add the charm of colour
to the relief.

He has frequently availed himself with wonderful skill of the different colours of the alternating zones

to express the different parts of the figure, such as the hair,

" Dealers and others," Dr. Billing writes (" The Science of Gems," " make an interminable confusion of nomenclature with respect to onyx and sardonyx, but the solution is very simple ; it has been erroneously asserted that onyx means a stone of two strata, sardonyx
2

p. 66)

number

of three or more. of strata.

The terms have not the slightest reference to the Onyx means merely the superposition of at least

one stratum over another, one being white, and the other pale, translucent or red, or black, or brown, or any other colour ; but if that other colour be sard, it constitutes a sard-onyx (sardonyx candor in sarda ; Pliny, lib. xxxvii.) ; and there may be three or more layers
:

of either onyx or sardonyx."

ANTIQUE GEMS.

97

the garments. These polychrome works belong to Roman and imperial times, more especially to the reign of Hadrian, to whose age may be referred the greater number of the fine

Roman camei, representing in apotheosis the members of the Julian and Claudian families often upon sardonyxes of
vast dimensions, and exhibiting from two to four or five

Cameo

of the Sainte Chapelle.

98

ANTIQUE GEMS.
which has

differently-coloured layers of the stone, each of

been taken advantage of by the engraver for the rendering of some particular portion of his design.

Some
art

of the most celebrated productions of the glyptic among the ancients have been executed in sardonyx.

The largest slab of this material known is that forming the Carpegna cameo (in the Vatican), 16 inches long by 12 deep, the subject the Triumph of Bacchus and Ceres,
executed in a stone of five layers. Next in size, 13 >r"ll inches,
is

"le Grand Camee de

France," known as the Agate of the Sainte Chapelle, representing the Triumph of Germanicus, and the Apotheosis of

Augustus.

This stone has also

five strata.

Gemma

Augustea.

Third
art, is

in point of magnitude, but superior as a work of " of Vienna, the subject of the " Gemma Augustea
is

which

the reception of Drusus (father of Germanicus) by Augustus as Jupiter, and Livia as Roma after his victory

ANTIQUE GEMS.

99

cal,

over the Rhasti and Vendelici, B.C. 1 7. Its shape is elliptiIt has only two layers. inches. In the Marlborough Collection is, perhaps, the most

9x8

extraordinary sardonyx in the world, for it presents stratpof transparent sard, purple, or rather lilac, opaque white, and a ground of opaque black colours not united in any
other example

known
busts,

to the world.

It bears in flat relief

two imperial
It is a
to

attributed without

much

reason to

Didius Julianus and Manlia Scantilla.

very late and tame work, and

may have

belonged

some

series of imperial portraits

wrought

at a late period,

Tazza F*rnese.
ii

100

ANTIQUE GEMS.

so late a period, perhaps, as the age of Constantine, but it presents no marked likeness to any imperial pair of heads. It is 8 inches wide by 6 deep. The Tazza Farnese in the museum at Naples is a beautiful

specimen of sardonyx, 8 inches in diameter. In the inner portion of the tazza is a cameo, the subject of which is supposed to be The Prosperity of Egypt. The outer portion
is

ornamented with the head of Medusa

in relief.

The Gonzaga

or Odescalchi

Cameo.

According to Visconti the portraits are those of Ptolemy Euergetes and Berenice. Mr. King finds a resemblance in the male head to that of Nero, and the female to It is a sardonyx of three strata, but is Agrippina.
1

given

composed of several pieces. to each head conceal the

It is

The

collars

and ornaments
Size

joinings.

6x5

inches.

now

in the Imperial Collection of Russia.

The two-handled cup

or carchesium of St. Denis, usually

ANTIQUE GEMS.

101

made of a splendid sarstyled the cup of the Ptolemies, is donyx, 5 inches high. Its sculptures represent masks, vases,
and other Bacchic emblems.
executed for

was supposed to have been Ptolemy Dionysus, but, as Mr. King says, it
It

may be

assigned to Nero, a great amateur in vases of this

material.

Another celebrated vase of sardonyx is the Brunswick vase, which represents the myth of Ceres in search of It is an alabastron, Proserpine, and that of Triptolemus.
or
tall

perfume

jar,

with narrow neck; 5 inches high by 2

Its style is

in the greatest diameter.

supposed to indicate

the age of the Antonines.

Augustus.

The
layers.
It has

in the Blacas Collection, is a

noble bust of Augustus, with the aegis on the breast, cameo of sardonyx of three

It is of an oval form, measuring 5i inches by 3|. been generally considered to belong to the Augustan

age.

The

sometimes occur,

variety termed chalcedonyx, in which antique camei is not mentioned by any ancient writer,

102

ANTIQUE GEMS.
this stone

cameo of

senting Neptune and author.

Amymone,

of two layers, white and grey, repreis in the possession of the

ONYX.

Numerous and

conflicting are the

definitions

of onyx

given by Theophrastus onyx as a mixture of white and dark brown placed alternately. Pliny gives different descriptions of the Indian and Arabian
ancient writers.
defines

of onyx according to Zenothemis and Sotacus, us that Sudines says that in this stone there is a white portion which resembles the white of the human
varieties

and

tells

finger-nail, in addition to the colours of chrysolithus, sarda,

and

iaspis, and lastly says that the real onyx, according to Satyrus, has numerous veins of variegated colours, interspersed with others of a milk-white hue.

Kohler makes the following distinctions between onyx and sardonyx, basing his view on the definitions of onyx " The given by ancient writers. question, how is the onyx to be distinguished from the sardonyx, is now easily to be answered out of Pliny. As far as regards the substance
and the colours, both are one and the same
called
stone.

It

is

brown, or yellow ground is covered with white veins irregularly and capriciously disred,

onyx when the

posed.

If therefore these veins formed sometimes stripes,

sometimes spots, sometimes eyes, then was the stone the

onyx.

But

if

the various colours of this stone lay in regu-

one over the other, then it became the sardonyx." The onyx of the ancients would thus appear to be our agate, an irregularly-stratified stone, the layers of which
lar strata,

are

wavy and

often concentric, and the sardonyx the regu-

larly stratified stone.

The description, however, of Theophrastus and of the Arabian onyx would seem to point to the onyx as consisting

ANTIQUE GEMS.

103

of parallel horizontal white and black layers, like the onyx of our day.

In the modern acceptation of the word, onyx

is

defined

as consisting of only two layers, a white over a black. The onyx or agate seems to have been in much

use

among onyx vases occurs

the ancients for vases.

in

The

earliest notice extant

of

Appian

(Bell. Mith., 115),

where he

enumerates amongst the treasures of Mithridates, captured at

Talaura, 2000 vessels of onyx (\i6ov o^in'Sos). Posidouius describes a collection of onyx bowls, found in nests, and Epiphanius speaks of the Oriental princesses as delighting
in drinking-vessels cut out of the

onyx.

Fragments of cups of onyx (agate) are frequently found

among Roman

ruins.

In the possession of the author are

some fragments of these cups, which present all the irregularly-stratified features of the onyx as defined by Kohler, and as described by Satyr us.

The banded, or so-called tri-coloured agate, so cut that the strata are seen crossing the stone, was much affected in the earlier, and also common in the late phase of ripened Greek taste, especially in Magna Grecia. The
times.

of the

onyxes or agates came from India in ancient " They are mentioned by the author of the Periplus Red Sea," as being brought from Ozene (Ougein)
finest

down

to

Baryguza (Broach,

in the

Gulf of Carnbay)

for

exportation. At the present day a great abundance of the finest varieties of agates or onyx-stones come from the Nerbudda, and

from Malwa, above the Vindhyas.

JASP-ONYX.
Pliny's
writes,
is

onychi juncta quae jasp-ouyx vocatur," Mr. King indicated by the very composition of the name, as

"

104

ANTIQUE GEMS.

is

that extremely rare onyx, in which a true opaque red jasper superimposed upon a plasma, to use modern terms. In

such

material

was engraved the wonderful Corinthian

helmet, the glory of the (old) Poniatows'ky cabinet.

BELI OCULUS.

EYE ONYX.

Beli oculus, which Pliny describes as a stone of a whitish hue, surrounding a black pupil in the middle, which shines amid a lustre like that of gold, was only some highlyshaded variety of the eye onyx. Pliny adds, " This stone,
in consequence of its singular beauty, has to the Deity (Bel),

been consecrated

and held

in the highest veneration

by

the people of Assyria."

It is

much

prized at the present

day in India. Another variety of the eye onyx is Leucopthalmos, which he describes as of a reddish-hue, and presenting all the appearance of an eye, in white and black.

^EGYPTILLA.
"

NICOLO.

The stone commonly known by that name," Pliny writes, black at the lower part, and blue on the surface." This is an exact description of the variety of onyx known as nicolo, consisting of a layer of a bluish tint over black.
"
is

When used for an intaglio, the design was cut down through the blue layer into the black. Intagli in this stone are invariably in the Eoman manner, and in style all posterior to the reign of Nero. They
usually have bevil edges. The nicolo continued to be a rather favourite stone so

long as gem-engraving existed as an art, and among the gems of the Sassanian empire we find mingled with many luminous and lovely sards, and with transcendent garnets,

ANTIQUE GEMS.

105

nicolos presenting the finest contrasts in their colours, all these stones carrying the singular and rudely-worked subjects which seem to have represented an art inherited from

the days of Mesopotamian cylinders, and Persian conical stamps, but modified in its technique by the introduction of

methods, especially the use of a coarse wheel from the West.

Mr. King mentions a splendid specimen of an intaglio in Hertz collection. It is an oval 2 of the inches richest blue and black, engraved high, nearly in a very bold manner, with Apollo resting his lyre on a
this stone formerly in the

column, and standing before a tali smoking tripod. nicolo with the head of Caracalla is in the Blacas Collection.

PRASIUS.

PLASMA.

prasius of Pliny is a plasma, a chalcedony of leekBy Pliny it is congreen colour, with a waxy lustre. sidered the commonest among the numerous kinds of green
stones.

The

It at

was extensively used

a
later

for

intagli

among the

Romans

mythological

period, the subjects figures, such as Victories,

engraved being Venus and the

Graces, Eagles, &c., of a late epoch of

Rome.

plasma possessing a bust of Severus, in a large gem of remarkable beauty, in the British Museum. Camei in this stone are abundant, but seem, with few
great artistic merit
exceptions, to belong to the times of the Renaissance or
later.

Mr. King mentions only one

intaglio in

Plasma
stone
is

di smeraldo

and prasina, terms by which

this

known

According was a plasma, a pale green chalcedony, but of the greatest rarity when carrying true Greek work.

in Italy, are corruptions of prasius. of Theophrastus to an authority, the o/x<a

106

ANTIQUE GEMS.

Some modern writers frequently confound this stone It is a (plasma) with prase, a stone of a different nature. dull green, impure, translucent vitreous quartz. No antique
intagli

occur in this stone;

it

was evidently unknown

to

the ancients.

PRASIUS SANGUINEIS PUNCTIS.

HELIOTROPE.

This variety of prasius, mentioned by Pliny as disfigured with spots like blood (sanguineis punctis), is our heliotrope, a plasma, or green chalcedony, interspersed with small patches of opaque bright red jasper.
JASPIS.

CHALCEDONY.
description

The
"

following
is

is

Pliny's

of this stone:

Jaspis green, and often transparent. Many countries this stone. That of India is like produce smaragdus in
colour that of Cyprus is hard, and of a pale sea-green and that of Persia is sky-blue, whence its name, aerizusa. There is also the terebinthyusa iaspis.' "
;
'

From greenness and, more or less, translucency being the essential characteristics of the ancient jaspis, it cannot
be identified with the jasper of modern times, as it is an opaque stone. The jaspis of Pliny would appear to include
the several varieties of chalcedony the green, the blue, the yellow; in a word, as Mr. King savs, every colour

except the blood-red, which gave its name to the sard. The green jaspis of India and that of Cyprus, mentioned by Pliny, appear to be plasmas, while that of Persia (the
aerizusa) is the sapphirine, or blue chalcedony, of modern times, and the jaspis terebinthyusa, the yellow chalcedony.

The leuchachates of Pliny is according to some writers white chalcedony, or our modern white carnelian.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

107

The Indian green jaspis of Pliny appears to be a plasma of a rarer kind, and almost approaching in colour to the emerald, while the prasius was a plasma of a commoner
which the greater number of Roman intagli were engraved. At the present day a fine green Indian plasma comes from the Vendhya hills.
sort, in

Some intagli of a Roman period occur in this jaspis, or plasma, of a beautiful emerald colour. " like emerald in Pliny mentions a variety of this stone,
colour, but traversed

by an opaque white band through the

middle," called jaspis monogrammos. An example of this stone occurs in a gem in the Blacas Collection. It repre-

young Faun standing and lifting his cup on high. Cylinders of the Assyro-Babylonian or later Babylonian period often occur in sapphirine. It was also a favourite
sents a

The most beautiful stone for Assyrian conical stamps. Persian cylinder known is in sapphirine. Some fine examples beautiful of Greek workmanship appear in this stone.

intaglio on a large stone of this sort is in the British Museum the subject is a Victory crowning a trophy.

Greek

Roman

intagli in sapphirine are also frequently

met with.

Medusa

of Solon.

Dionysiac Bull of Hyllus.

cedony, and

Babylonian cylinders are frequently made of grey chalit is the material almost exclusively used for

108

ANTIQUE GEMS.
seals of the

the large conical

Sassanians.

Scarabaei of
intagli, fre-

Etruscan work, as well as Greek and

Roman

quently occur in this material. The Dionysiac Bull of Hyllus (Paris) and the Medusa of Solon (Blacas) are in

grey chalcedony. Busts and heads in

siderable size,

full

and

in bas-relief,

and of con-

were executed by the Romans

in chalcedony.

Under the Empire

these carvings constituted the phalerse so often mentioned as military distinctions on armour. Many modern intagli occur in white chalcedony or carit

nelian, but

was a stone never employed

in ancient times.

ACHATES.

SICILIAN AGATE.

Theophrastus, in his work on stones, says, "Achates is a beautiful stone it has its name from the river Achates
;

and is sold at a great price." Pliny " Achates was a stone writes, formerly held in high in now held none. It but was first found in Sicily, esteem,
(the Drillo), in Sicily,
near* a river of that

numerous other
stones of this

name, but has since been discovered in In size it exceeds any other class, and the varieties of it are numerous,
localities.

the

name varying accordingly. Thus, for example, we have iaspachates, cerachates, smaragdachates, hasmachates, leuchachates, dendracates (marked with small shrubs), autachates, and corralloachates, spotted all over with drops
of gold, and commonly found in Crete, where it is also known as ' sacred achates." He mentions also a property of the Sicilian stones as being good for wounds inflicted by " The stones that are found in spiders and scorpions. " are he of similar properties, continues, India," possessed and of other great and marvellous properties as well ; for
'

they present the appearance in them of rivers, woods,

ANTIQUE GEMS.

109

beasts of burden, and forms even like ivy and the trappings of horses."

Theophrastus and Pliny in their description of achates seem to speak only of that kind of agate which resembles
the Sicilian, which never exhibits stratification or zones.
It always occurs in patches of yellow and white, brown and white, red and white, &c., intermingled. Sicily at the

jaspers

present day continues to supply an abundance of agates and of beautiful varieties, with which some of the

churches in Sicily are profusely ornamented. The stratified stones with zones of colour, which come

from India and Brazil, and to which at the present day the

term of agate
ancients.

is

applied,

were evidently the onyx of the

This distinction
"
says,

is

confirmed by

agate.
is

Next in appearance and in The onyx is adorned with

For, instead of zones,
it

De Boot (1195), who colour to the onyx is the

zones of colour, the agate

not.

is

ornamented by nature

wonderful manner, with lines or spots of various colours, which exhibit images of different objects some,
in a
;

for instance, represent, far

fruits, flowers, clouds,"

from obscurely,

trees, animals,

&c.

Pliny's cerachates, sardachates, haemachates, smaragdachates, are thus evidently only the different varieties of the
Sicilian agate,

and those from India and other countries

resembling them, in patches or spots of yellow and white, brown and white, red and white, green and white, &c.

The smaragdachates may be

identified

with the beautiful

green agate from India (Cambay). The dendrachates, marked with small shrubs, of which Pliny mentions such numerous varieties in India, were
doubtless the moss agate, or that generally termed mocha " It is chiefly brought from Arabia. stone. Variegated

110

ANTIQUE GEMS.

ated, are

stones with landscapes, trees and water, beautifully delinestill found in India at Cubberpunj (the five tombs)

a place sixty miles distant from Rajpipla in Gruzerat. 3 The coralloachates appears to have been a variety peculiar
to Crete, but
is

now unknown
ASTROBOLOS.

to us.

CAT'S EYE.

" Sudines " that astrobolos resembles says," Pliny writes, the eye of a fish in appearance, and that it has a radiant

white refulgence

when viewed

in the suu.'

This

is

not

improbably the cat's eye, a translucent variety of Chalcedonic quartz, which displays a peculiar floating white
streak of light when cut en cabochon. Amongst the Marlborough gems is a monster cat's eye, If inch high, carved into a lion's head. It belongs to the

Cinque-cento period.

JASPER.

Red and yellow jasper, in which Roman intagli abound, appears to have come into use after Pliny's date, as he nowhere mentions any stones which can be identified with

Pallas of Aspasius.

them.

Engravings on these stones belong the Middle Empire and the decline.
3

to the times of

Forbes's " Oriental Memoirs," vol.

ii.

p. 20.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

Ill

A fine homogeneous red jasper, Mr. Maskelyne tells us,

a vermilion colour, that
is

of

found in a breccia in India, and also in Egypt, was often used for Roman gems in the later The most celebrated work in red times of the Empire.
jasper
is the elaborately helmeted, but noble head of MiI OY. PI nerva, at Vienna, signed In the Marlborough collection is a head of Vespasian, in

AC AC

red jasper, probably a contemporary work, and a very early example of this material. Red jasper often carries imperial
portraits of the time of Hadrian,

and more particularly of

his

Antonine successors, with the characteristics of the work

is still

of those times.

Red jasper
good
polish,

found in

Sicily,

but

it

does not take a

and

The

bright

spotty in colour, and full of veins. vermilion jasper, in which many Roman
is

was perhaps the corallis of Pliny, which he describes as a native of India and Syene, and resembling minium in appearance.
intagli frequently occur,

Some
betical

list,

writers connect the haematites of Pliny's alphawhich he describes as a stone of a blood-red

and which comes of the very finest quality from ^Ethiopia and also from Arabia and Africa, with red jasper.
colour,

Roman and
inferior

Gnostic engravings of a late date, and of work, frequently occur in yellow jasper. It appears,

however, that this stone was used at an early period in Egypt. In the British Museum is a small seal tablet, of
beautiful yellow jasper, carrying on one side a hollow backed horse ; on the obverse is a bull standing at rest,

with the cartouche of Amenophis II. (1450 B.C.). Black jasper, an extremely fine, close-grained substance,

and perfectly opaque, Mr. King

by the Greeks,
tagli
;

for

has been employed some of their finest inexample, the fragment of the head of the dying
tells us,

as the material for

112

ANTIQUE GEMS.
collection).
is

Medusa (Praun

seated

sphinx,

a Greek

work, in this stone

also noticed.

No description of a gem answering to this stone is to be seen in Pliny's list. Inferior, or Lower Empire, work never occurs in this
material.

MOLOCHITES.
"

GREEN JASPER.

Molochites," Pliny says, "is not transparent, being of a deeper green and more opaque than smaragdus ; its name is derived from the mallow (/x,oAoxr/), which it resembles in
It is highly esteemed for making seals. This stone a native of Arabia." This is undoubtedly our green The stone which Pliny terms sphragis, from the jasper.

colour.
is

circumstance of
is

its being the best of the same stone. evidently

all for

making

signets,

The green jasper, which was much used in antiquity for the earliest Assyrian cylinders and for the latest Gnostic amulets, is a mixture of the green mineral chlorite with
chalcedony. Phosnician
scarabaei are usually

made of a dark green

in

chlorite jasper.

The

scarabs found

the cemeteries of

Tharros, in the island of Sardinia, are also of a dark green jasper, and are undoubtedly Phosnician.

No gem of Greek type is known in green jasper. Some Roman intagli are, however, met with in this stone. Mr.
King
notices two, one of a racer bearing off the palm of " Tiberis " inscribed over him, in his own victory, his name collection ; and another with the conjoined heads of Diocle-

tian

and Maximian Praun collection.

in the character of Janus, in the late

Sassanian seals frequently occur of the same material. dark green, opaque, close-grained jasper, occasionally

ANTIQUE GEMS.

113

clouded with red, was in great request with Egyptian engravers for religious intagli, from the epoch of the Pharaohs

down

to the

affect this material

Arabian conquest. The Basilidan talismans above all others.

In the Maryborough collection is an opaque, pale green jasper (only found in India now), bearing in intaglio the profile portrait of Cleopatra with the head attire, the sacred
Vulture, and other ornaments of an Egyptian queen. dull, pale green variety of jasper is used at the present in Persia for seals.

The
white,

Prasius, described
is,

by Pliny, with three streaks of according to Mr. Maskelyne, a white-veined green

jasper, found in India.

HELIOTROPIUM.
"

BLOODSTONE.

" is found in Heliotropium," Pliny writes, ^Ethiopia, It is of a leek-green colour, streaked Africa, and Cyprus.

with blood-red veins.

It has

been thus named (from

rJAios,

the sun, and rpeVw, to turn) from the circumstance that, if placed in a vessel of water, and exposed to the full light of the sun, it changes to a reflected colour like that of
blood."

This stone is undoubtedly the modern bloodstone, an opaque green jasper, with red streaks. Antique intagli, in this stone, are rarely to be met with. It occurs, however,
the
talismans

unfrequently amongst Egyptian and Gnostic times.

not

of the

later

It was held in great favour in the Byzantine period, and by the artists of the Revival, from an old tradition that it owed its origin to the stones lying under the Cross, on

Calvary, stained by the droppings of the Saviour's blood. Vasari mentions a work by Matteo del Nassaro, in this
stone, representing the

Descent from the Cross, in which

I

114

ANTIQUE GEMS.
the blood
trickling

the sanguine spots exactly depicted from the wounds of the Saviour.

Bloodstone

is

at the present
it is

day much used

for seals.

In

Italian catalogues of gems

styled jaspro sanguineo.

SMARAGDTJS MEDICUS.

MALACHITE.

medicus, which Pliny describes, as found of greater dimensions than any other sort of smaragdus, of a wavy pattern, and sometimes resembling sapphirus (lapis lazuli), is, in the opinion of most writers, our malachite, a

The smaragdus

green carbonate of copper, and the substance resembling sapphirus, azurite, a blue carbonate of copper frequently associated with it.

camei.

was sometimes, but very rarely, used by the ancients for The Pulsky Collection affords an example of a cameo in malachite, representing the bust of a Bacchante.
It
It belongs to the best period of

Roman

art.

HEMATITES.
"

HEMATITE.
" of the very finest

Haematites," according to Pliny,

quality, comes from ^Ethiopia, but it is found in Arabia and Africa as well. It is a stone of a blood-red colour."

" Theophrastus also describes it as of a dense, dry, or, according to its name, seeming as
concrete blood."
at/xa,

solid texture,
if

formed of

The name
is

haematites

is

derived from

blood.

This stone
It has

identified

with hematite, or red

been often used for scarabasi and intagli by the Egyptians, and for cylinders by the Assyrians.
iron-stone.

MAGNES.
to

MAGNETITE.

Sotacus, according Pliny, describes five different kinds of magnes, all, no doubt, varieties of oxide of iron.

The

Ethiopian, the best, and sold for

its

weight

in silver;

ANTIQUE GEMS.

115

that of Magnesia, bordering on Macedonia; a third from Hyettusin Boeotia; a fourth from Alexandria in Troas; and

from Magnesia in Asia. Those of Magnesia, boron Macedonia, are of a reddish black; those of Boeotia dering are more red than black. The kind found in Troas is
a,

fifth,

black.

magnet took vered it in

soles,

Pliny, on the authority of Nicander, states that the its name from the herdsman who first disco-

Mount

Ida,

by

its

attracting the nails in his

and the ferule of

his staff as

he walked over the bed.

is

The magnetite used by

the ancients for engraving on

Its Greek name was generally of a metallic, steely lustre. It is the favourite 'Hpa/cAeca Ai'0os, the Heraclean stone.

material for Babylonian cylinders of the Archaic and later It was also much in use in Egypt, and in Persia, periods. for Cuphic signets. It was rarely used by the Romans, and
that at a very late period: a tolerable intaglio in hematite, with a bust of Abundantia, is noticed in the Marlborough Collection. Rude intagli, with Gnostic subjects, used as

amulets,

have been largely manufactured in

said to be a curious

this

stone.

There

is

specimen of a small magnetite

in the Collegio

and which

is

Romano, Rome, encircled with hieroglyphics, said to present an unexhausted and still
its

energetic action at

opposite poles.

OBSIDIANUM.
"

OBSIDIAN.

Among

may

the various kinds of glass," Pliny writes, " we also reckon Obsian glass, a substance very similar to

the stone which Obsias discovered in Ethiopia. This stone is of a very dark colour, and sometimes transparent, but ii
is

dull to the sight,

and

reflects,

when

attached as a mirroi

object rather than the image. make stones out of it." Pliny mensignet Many persons " were tions further on that tested with the dust of gems
to walls, the
i

shadow of the

116

ANTIQUE GEMS.
mark upon
glass,

Obsian stone (Obsidian), as it will not leave a the surface of a genuine stone."
is

This Obsian stone, which Pliny says, resembles

obsidian, a volcanic glass,
felspathic rocks, or those containing or
silicates.

produced by the fusion of

composed of alkaline In consequence of its reflecting properties, the ancient Romans and the Corinthians frequently made it into
mirrors,

and sometimes the walls of

of
it

their apartments

were

ornamented with sheets

for

looking-glasses.

The

Mexicans
of

also used

it

for mirrors, knife-blades,

In Pliny's time it arrows and lances. imitated in glass, and employed as a material for plates and
dishes.

and points was largely

Antique

intagli,

in obsidian, are extremely rare.

in the

Mr.

King mentions one

Praun

Collection, a cock chimasra

on a large obsidian, with a Gnostic design on the reverse. Herodotus describes the Ethiopian contingent in the host
of Xerxes, as equipped with reed arrows tipped with a stone, sharpened to a point, with which they engrave seals. This stone was evidently obsidian, with the sharp
splinters of

scarabsei of limestone, steaschist,

which the Egyptians doubtless carved their and other soft materials.

At the present day, flakes of obsidian are frequently found in several parts of Greece, evidently used in primitive
times for arrow-heads.*

GAGATES.
"
"

JET.

is a stone, so called from Gagates," Pliny writes, a town and name of river in Lycia. the It is Gages,

In the possession of the author are several of these flakes of obfrom Marathon, Tanagra, and Aphidua, and some cores of the same stone, from Salagora, near Arta, kindly presented by Mr. FinObsidian is found in the island of Melos. lay.
sidian,

ANTIQUE GEMS.
asserted,
too,

117

that at Leucolla the sea throws

it

up, and
It

that
is

it

is

found over a space twelve stadia

in extent.
little

black, smooth, light, and porous, differs but

in

from

wood

appearance, is of a brittle texture, and emits a disagreeable smell when rubbed." This is an exact descrip-

well-known substance jet, which is a variety of lignite of a velvet black and emits when burnt a very At the present day, it is found strong bituminous smell. in the amber mines on the coast of the Baltic, where it
tion of the
is

known by

the

name of black amber, and

in

alum

shale,

in the

neighbourhood of Whitby, Yorkshire. "Jet was," Mr. King says, "turned by the lathe into orna-

ments by the Britons, perhaps even before the Romans

pieces,

subjugated this island, since large rings worked out of solid for bracelets and anklets, are often discovered

amongst other British remains. The round disks, cut out from the centre of these rings, the refuse of the turner,
often found in heaps together in Dorsetshire, long puzzled

who agreed to call them 'Kimmeridge Coal Money,' and to regard them as a primitive currency. Their true origin has been but lately ascertained."
antiquaries,
all

Intagli in jet, sold as antique or mediaeval, are said to be recent forgeries, as the ancients never used that material

for

engraving on.

SUCCINUM.
"

AMBER.

in rank after murrhina and crystal," Pliny writes, the "among objects of luxury, we have amber (succinum), an article which, for the present, however, is in request

Next

among women only. "There can be no doubt," he

continues, "that

amber

is

a product of the islands of the Northern Ocean, and that it is the substance by the Germans called glcesum. Amber

118

ANTIQUE GEMS.

is

to the pine genus, like a

produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging gum from the cherry, and resin

It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened by heat or cold, or else by the action of the sea, when the

from the ordinary pine.

rise of the tide carries off the

fragments from the shores of

it

these islands.

At

all

events,

is

thrown up upon the

it

coasts in so light a

form that

in the shallows

has

all

the

appearance of hanging suspended in the water. Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree,

and

for this reason

gave

it

the

name of

succinurn, and one

great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and
it burns, when ignited, with the odour and appearance of torch-pine wood." " Amber is imported by the Germans into Pannonia,

that

more

particularly, from whence the Veneti, by the Greeks called Eneti, first brought it into general notice, a people in

the vicinity of Pannonia, and dwelling on the shores of the From this it is evident how the story which Adriatic Sea.

connects it with the Padus first originated, that after Phaeton had been struck by lightning, his sisters became changed into poplars, which every year shed their tears

upon the banks of the Eridanus, a river known to us as To these tears was given the name of electhe Padus.'
' *

trum.'

"

One

in a liquid state,

great proof that amber must have been originally is the fact that, owing to its transparency,

certain objects are be seen within

and

ants, for example, gnats These, no doubt, must have adhered to it when liquid, and then, upon its hardening, have remained enclosed within."
lizards.
**

There are several kinds of amber," Pliny writes

further.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
"

119

The white

is

the one that has the finest odour; but neither

is

this

nor the wax-coloured amber

held in very high

;

esteem.

more

so,

The red amber is more highly valued and still when it is transparent, without presenting too

brilliant and igneous an appearance. For amber, to be of high quality, should present a brightness like that of fire, but not flakes resembling those of flame. The most highly-

esteemed amber
transparent, and

is

that

known

as the Falernian, from its

;

resemblance to the colour of Falernian wine

has a

it is

perfectly

softened, transparent brightness. Other kinds, again, are valued for the mellowed tints, like the colour of boiled honey in appearance. When a vivifying

it by rubbing it between the will amber attract chaff, dried leaves, and thin bark, fingers, in the same the that just way magnet attracts iron." Amber even at the present day is still found on the coasts of the Northern Sea, the Baltic and Pliny is evidently in his that is produced from trees amber conjecture right

heat has been imparted to

belonging to the pine genus, as, according to Professor Goppert, it is the viscous resin of a fir named by him
pinitis succinifer.

Amber claims the highest antiquity in the list of subIt was much prized stances used for personal ornament. 5 by the ancient Etruscans, and was frequently introduced into their jewellery. In the possession of the author is an
Etruscan ring with a piece of amber set in also frequently occur in this substance.
It
it.

Scarabaei

was known

to the

early Greeks.

gold necklace

5 There is supposed to have been a very active commerce of the Etruscans with northern Europe. The object of their quest was amber, as is established by the much more frequent occurrence of objects of Etruscan manufacture in the extreme north of Prussia than in any intermediate district.

120'

ANTIQUE GEMS.
bits of

hung with
460)
is

amber

(/xera

8'

^Ae'/a-poio-u/ cepro,

Odyss. xv.
'

mentioned in Homer.
tells

but Pliny
rion,'

Greek name was r/Ac/or/aov, us that Demostratus called amber lyncuIts

beast

who attributed its known as the lynx.

origin to the urine of the wild

It maintained a high value

larly at the time of

among the Romans,

particu-

Nero, and was largely used for orna-

mental and decorative purposes. Pliny tells us that the nets which were used for protecting the podium of the
amphitheatre against wild beasts were studded with amber by Julianus, the manager of the gladiatorial exhibitions,
All the weapons and articles Emperor Nero." used during the games of the amphitheatre were also made of amber. The largest piece of amber that Julianus brought to Rome was thirteen pounds in weight. Mr. King mentions as the most precious example extant
for the
6

of

Roman

Collection,
full relief

carving in this substance, a ring in the Waterton formed into an elegant design with Cupids in

A
tion.

upon the shoulders, cut out of a single piece. most interesting specimen of carved amber is in the

British

Museum; it was formerly in the Pour tales CollecThe subject represents a bearded figure, whose legs

appear to terminate in a serpent, embracing a draped female This group measures 6| in. by 3J in., and is, figure. probably, the largest extant specimen of amber sculptured

Small figures carved in this material in a by the ancients. Archaic style have been found in Etruria. very Amber has been occasionally found in tumuli in England.

Perhaps the

finest

example of amber discovered

in this

country is the cup which some years ago was found at Hove, near Brighton, and is now exhibited with associated stone
In the possession of the author

is

one of these amber studs.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

121

and bronze implements in the Brighton Museum. Amber has been found in some of the tumuli explored by Mr. C.
Spence Bates,
in

Dartmoor.

CORALLIUM.
"

CORAL.

According to Theophrastus, KovpaAAiov (coral) is a stone red in colour, and its shape cylindrical, in some sort resembling a root. It grows in the sea." Pliny writes: "In the same degree that people in our part of the world set a
value

upon the pearls of

Coral
is

prize coral.

India, do the people of India produced in the Red Sea also, but
It is to be found also in the
7

of a darker hue than ours.

Persian Gulf, where it is known by the name of 'iace. But the most highly esteemed of all is that produced in the vicinity of the islands called Staechades (the Hyeres), in the
Gallic Gulf, and near the -ZEolian Islands

and the town of

Coral
the
is

Drepana

(Trapani), in the
too,

Sea of

Sicily.

to

be
of
is

found growing,

at

Graviscaa,

and

off

coast

Neapolis, in Campania, as also at Erythras, where it intensely red, but' soft, and consequently little valued."

" Its form

is

that of a shrub, and

its

colour green,

its

berries are white

and

soft

while under water,

it

but

the

moment they
appearance. by a person,

are removed from

they become hard and

red, resembling the berries of cultivated cornel in size

and

They
it

say that, while alive,

if it is

only touched

and hence
this
it

it

is

will immediately become as hard as stone, that the greatest pains are taken to prevent
it

by tearing
last
its

up from the bottom with

it

nets, or else

cutting

short with a sharp-edged instrument of iron, from

which

circumstance

is

generally supposed to have

*

received

name_ofSBuraliiim, (from Kovpa*

shearing).

The

reddest coral and the most branchy is held in the highest esteem, but, at the same time, it must not be rough or

122

ANTIQUE GEMS.
yet,

hard like stone, nor

full

on the other hand, should

it

be

of holes or hollow."
to

The Romans seem

amulet

have employed coral merely as an

medicine, for Pliny tells us, bunches of corals, hung at the necks of infants, are thought to act as a preservative against danger; calcined and pulverized, and
in

and

taken in water,
griping pains and

it

gives relief to patients suffering from

pieces of coral are worn at Naples, as amulets against the

affections of the bladder.

At

the present day pointed

hung round the neck

malignant influence of the evil eye (malocchio). It has been said that coral was never used by the ancients
for glyptic purposes, either in relief or antique intaglio. carved head of Jupiter in coral was lately in the possession of Mr. Phillips, in Cockspur Street. From its character

An

and pattern
period.
It

it is

was found

said to be undoubtedly Greek of the best in Greece by the Duke of St. Albans.
is

An

intaglio in this material

in

The gorgonia (gorgon another name for coral.

stone),

Mr. Maskelyne's Collection, mentioned by Pliny, was

MARGARITA.
writes: "

PEARL.

Theophrastus gives but a brief notice of the pearl. He To the number of gems held in esteem belongs that

called the margarita, not transparent in its nature.

Neck-

laces of great value are

produced in a kind of oyster, and in like manner, in the pinna. It is found in India, and on the shores of certain islands in the
it.

made out of

It is

Red

Sea."

Athenseus and Chares of Mytilene, give admirable accounts

of the natural history of the pearl oyster as known to the ancients, but the fullest details, as to both fish and fishery,
are
to be found in the description of Parthia

by Isidorus

ANTIQUE GEMS.
of Charace.
in his

123

Pliny seems to have followed these authorities account of the pearl.

According to these writers the pearl-bearing oyster was found in ancient times in the Indian Sea, on the coasts of

Armenia,

Persia,

Susiana,

Babylonia,

and

Taprobane^

(Ceylon), which

was

then, as until lately,

the seat of the

most productive fishery. The Red Sea pearls were the most transparent; the Indian, though superior in magnitude to all the others, had
something of the opaque lustre of
talc.

Those of the

best quality were distinguished by the title exaluminatce, i. e. clear as a When larger than ordiglobule of alum. the name unio was nary, given them ; when pear(unique)

shaped they were termed

elenchi.

The
seems

pearl was
to

in great

esteem among the ancients.

earliest times to

It

have been known from the

the

Asiatic Greeks.

Arabia were held next

In Pliny's time the pearls of India and in esteem to the adamas, taking the

precedence of the emerald and the ruby. It was the Asiatic conquests of Pompey, Pliny tells us, that first turned the taste of the Romans towards pearls

and precious

In his triumphal procession were stones. carried thirty-three crowns made out of pearls, a temple of the Muses supporting a sun-dial, a portrait (bust) of the victor himself, formed out of the same precious units.
Caligula wore slippers made out of pearls, and Nero had sceptres for the actors in his theatre wrought out of them.

Pliny mentions having seen Lollia Paulina, the widow of Caligula, completely covered over with strings of alternate
pearls and emeralds to the value of 400,000/. of our

money.

the extravagance of one of the two to outdo threw Cleopatra, who, Antony, finest pearls in the world into a cup of vinegar, and when
Pliny's story
is

well

known about

124

ANTIQUE GEMS.
it off. "It is unfortunate for this good Mr. King remarks, " that no acid the human stomach

dissolved drank
story,"

can endure
half a
troy).

is

capable of dissolving a pearl, even after long

it."

maceration in

The

largest pearl

known to Pliny weighed

Roman ounce and one

is

scruple over (234^ grains

The word margarita

said to be the

Greek form of the

Sanscrit maracata, or the Persian merwerid.

MURRHINA.

FLUOR SPAR.

In Pliny's notice of murrhina, he first gives an account of the introduction of this material, and of vases made of it " was the first who " into Rome. Pompey," he writes,

Rome; he being the first to dedicate, on the conclusion of his triumph, on his conquest of Mithridates, blocks (lapides) and cups of this material, in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, a circumstance which soon
introduced murrhina at
small dishes even, and brought them into private use utensils of made murrhina, being in great request. eating This species of luxury, too, is daily on the increase; a simple cup, which would hold no more than three sextarii,
;

has been purchased at the price of 70,000 sesterces. J. Petronius, a personage of consular rank, intending, from
his hatred of Nero, to disinherit the table of that prince,

broke a murrhine basin, which had cost him no

less

than

300,000 sesterces.

But Nero

himself, as

it

was only proper

for a prince to do, surpassed

them

all

sesterces for a single cup, a fact well

by paying 1,000,000 worthy of remem-

brance,"

" that an emperor, the father of his Pliny adds, country, should have drunk from a vessel of such costly
price."

He

then describes the material

itself,

of which these
sends

costly vases and cups were

made

"
:

The East

us

ANTIQUE GEMS.

125

murrhina (the pieces in the rough). They are found in several places, all little known, within the Parthian dominions, principally,

supposed

to

however, in Carmania. They are be formed of a moist substance solidified by

In superficial extent, they never exceed that required for small dishes (abaci). In thickness they are rarely large enough for a drinking cup, as those
subterraneous hear.
already

mentioned. The polish they take is without strength, being rather a gloss or lustre than a brilliant But their value lies in the variety of their colours polish. the veins or strata winding around here and there, presenting hues of purple and white, and a up of both, which assumes a fiery tint, as
third colour
if

made

by the passage

of the colour through the purple, or that the milky-white colour assumes a ruddy glow. Some especially admire in

them the ends or boundaries of the

colours,

and a certain

To others play of colours, such as is seen in the rainbow. the opaque spots or strata are more agreeable, any transparency or paleness in them is considered a defect.
Murrhina exhibit
but
also crystals
if

frequently, as
is

and warts, not prominent, embedded in the substance itself.

also
in

There
odour."

some recommendation
discussion

the

agreeable

Much
fication

has

arisen

in

of the

stone.

Many

are

regard to the identithe substances with

which

it has been connected, porcelain, glass, jade, agate, china agate, onyx, but the discovery lately of some blocks of fluor spar has, we think, settled the question,

and has led

It

to its final identification

with that material.

was long supposed that fluor spar was unknown to the Romans, but the blocks lately found at the Marmorata, at
7

is

Not the edges of vases, as understood by some writers. here speaking of the pieces in the rough.

Pliny

126

ANTIQUE GEMS.
it

Rome, prove that Hadrian.

was largely imported

at the time of

I shall now make a few remarks on the above notice, and then enter more fully into the subject of its identification with fluor spar. Pliny begins his description of

murrhina, by saying,

"

The East

sends us murrhina"

Here

he evidently means the material itself, the pieces in the rough, and not vases and vessels, as generally understood.

Hence we
rough,

see that murrhina

and

then wrought
it is

was brought to Rome in the up into dishes and bowls.

found of a moist substance,

Pliny's supposition, that

solidified

is only the same as is put forward by ignorant lapidaries at Catania, at the present day, who say that the alabaster found under Mount Etna is

by subterraneous heat,

snow

solidified

We

by intense heat. come now to its identification with

fluor spar.

the marbles lately discovered at Rome, at the Marmorata (the site of the ancient Emporium), by Signor

Among

Visconti, are eight blocks of fluor spar. Through the kindness of Mr. Shakespere Wood, the author obtained a specimen of it, which was given to him by Cardinal Antonelli.

Another piece was, some years ago, in the possession of a dealer in antiquities, Rolli, who gave out that he found it in digging the foundations of a house, but it is now

known he

stole

it

from the Marmorata.

it

This was sold

thin slices, and

to the Jesuits,

who had

cut

up

into

had the front of mented with it.

their altar in the Chiesa del

Jesu orna-

Specimens of both are in the possession of the author. smaller specimens are from the block discovered by Rolli, and obtained by him from Sibilio of the Piazza di

The

Spagna, to

whom was

for the altar.

A larger specimen

entrusted the cutting up of the block is from the late discovery

ANTIQUE GEMS.

127

by Signer Visconti, and obtained, as already mentioned, from Cardinal Antonelli, by whose orders the blocks have been placed in the vaults of the Vatican, to be used at some
future time for the decoration of chuches.

of great importance, as it not only that fluor spar was known to the Romans, but also proves as it leads to the identification with the murrhina of Pliny.
is

This discovery

'

These blocks evidently came from the East, as they were found with blocks of Oriental marble in the Emporium. The specimens in the possession of the author have been pronounced by Mr. Maskelyne to be true fluor spar, with a
white stratum of hornstone winding through it. It fully answers the description of Pliny. It exhibits zones of
purple with

through
it.

it.

veins of opaque white (hornstone) running In some parts it assumes a reddish, fiery hue.

A slight iridescence
violet, red,

frequently occurs in different parts of

Further, fluor spar never takes a

high polish, and

its

is

remarkable for the beauty and variety of

various

colours

purple,

blue, green, yellow, and the winding of these zones of colours. The purpura of Pliny was

evidently a violet tint,, such as is found as a prevailing colour in fluor spar, as he applies the same term to the amethyst. If the word sales in Pliny can be translated
crystals,
it

would further confirm the

identity

of mur-

rhina and fluor spar, as fluor is characterized by its crystalThe odour is evidently from the lizing in regular cubes. rosin, which was put round it when working it, as at the
present day, to prevent it from breaking, as it is of a soft " and brittle nature. Propertius's expression, Murrheaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis," strengthens the proof of its
identity, as at the present

day fluor spar is baked to enhance the beauty of the colours, particularly the red. The blocks of fluor spar found at the Marmorata were

128

ANTIQUE GEMS.

evidently brought to Rome for the purpose of being wrought up into dishes and bowls for the luxurious Romans.

An

objection has been

made

to this identification of the

murrhina with the fluor spar found at

Rome

on account of

the magnitude of the blocks discovered at the Marmorata, " In for Pliny says, superficial extent (the pieces) never exceed that required for small dishes. In thickness they

This objecare rarely large enough for a drinking-cup." tion is not, however, a strong one, as the blocks of murrhina
introduced into

Rome by Pompey, and

at that time very rare,

must have been

noticed by Pliny, and of small size

but at the time of Hadrian, the date of the blocks, according to the consulate (SERVIANO in. cos) marked on one of the
blocks of marble found with the fluor spar at the Marmorata, in A.D. 184, the demand must have been greater, and consequently the importation more extensive and the blocks introduced of greater size. further objection has been

made

that no remains of
at

vases of

fluor

spar have been found

Rome.

Corsi

mentions two antique vases found in Rome, one in the Museo Kircheriano, which he says so completely answered the description of the murrhina that it seems as if it had been
in the hands of Pliny, when he wrote his description of that material ; another in the possession of Signor Gillet Lamont.

The

this substance

discovery of these blocks of fluor spar shows that must have been known to the Romans, and

consequently we ought to have some description of it in Pliny, as he has described every gem and stone known to the Romans of that period. Now there is no description in his work that answers better that of fluor spar than his
description of murrhina. Mr. Maskelyne has noticed the great resemblance
glass
little

Roman

vessels exhibit in their pattern to fluor spar.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

129

If these glass vessels are the false murrhina mentioned in Pliny and other writers, it affords an additional proof of
the identity of fluor spar with the true murrhina. Some consider the murrhina to be agate. Numerous

specimens of agate cups have been frequently found, but

none answering the description of the murrhina of Pliny occur in any cup or bowl, or in any broken fragments often

met with. Further, agate before the introduction of murrhina

to be

was well known long by Pompey as a distinct class of stone, to which the name onyx or onychina were generally applied, and was largely imported from India, whereas the murrhina came from Parthia, and more especially from Carmania. Onyx and murrhina are mentioned by the author of the Periplus (age of Augustus) as two distinct substances, and as being brought from Ozene Ozene (Ougein) to Barygaza (Broach) for exportation. must have been an emporium for valuable stones, to which the murrhina of Parthia and Carmania were brought. A
simitar distinction also occurs in Seneca, when he speaks of the wealthy having " mules to carry their vases of crystal, murrhina, and those carved by the hands of famous artists,"

meaning by the latter vases of agate or onyx, which were carved by famous artists, the so-called cup of the Ptolemies In the passage of affording an example of one of these.
Lampridius also, "in murrhinis et onychinis minxit" the murrhina (fluor spar) and onychina (agate) are clearly distinThe ancient writers could not have been so inacguished.
curate and careless as to divide the well-known stones of

the agate kind into onyx and murrhina, and to give such different descriptions of the same stone. They could not

have had such

little

discrimination as to describe the same

stone in one place under the under that of murrhina.

name of onyx, and

in another

130

ANTIQUE GEMS.

is

objection to the view of its being agate the passage of Pliny, where he mentions that a consul gnawed the edges of a vase of murrhina, and the injury done

But the strongest

to

This it by his teeth only tended to enhance its value. shows that the murrliina was of the soft and brittle nature of fluor spar, and not a hard siliceous substance like agate,

which no teeth could abrade. We may also add Dr. Billing's words "As it is recorded that the murrhina vases were introduced first by Pompey, from his Parthian expedition, they could not be agate, which was common before his time hence murrhina must not be
: ;

interpreted agate.

It is a

remarkable corroboration of this

opinion that, although fluor spar is such a rare mineral, it has been seen by a modern traveller in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, just the locality of the Parthian expedition."

This view

is

further confirmed

by the observation of

the author of the article on Precious Stones in the Edin-

burgh Review* that the murrhina vasa were "like onyx, but were not onyx." In this he is so far correct that the zones and winding strata of fluor spar bear a kind of " resemblance to those of agate or onyx. He adds they the came with onyx from Nerbudda, as related by the
:

This author says they came from Ozene (Ougein), which is nearly 100 miles from the Nerbudda, and divided from it by the Vendhya Mountains. Ozene was doubtless, as we said before, an emporium to which the murrhina of Parthia (murrhina in Partlris pocula coctafocis) were brought, to be forwarded thence to Baryauthor of the Periplus."

gaza (Broach) for exportation to Rome.

Everything points out a distinct difference between onyx

6

July, 1866, p. 253.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
and murrhina.
murrhina soft

131

nature, for the

They were not only different in their onyx is a hard, siliceous stone, and the and easily scratched, as we must infer from

Pliny's account of the consul gnawing the edges of a cup of this material, and leaving the marks of his teeth on it ; but

from whence they came. The onyx came from India and Arabia, the murrhina from Parthia and
also in the localities

Carmania.

Murrhina was evidently considered by the Romans as a rare stone, distinct in its nature from every stone known
Before It is classed apart by Pliny. hitherto. of and stones he on his precious entering description gems an and as distinct of account murrhina, crystal amber, gives substances from those he was going to treat of, evidently
to

them

placing them in a class apart from those generally

precious stones,

known

as

among which agate (onyx) is placed. Lastly purpura (purple or violet) never appears in It has, however, been asserted that the purpura agates. of the ancients was of a crimson hue inclining to maroon. There is no authority for this assertion. The purpura of Pliny was evidently of a violet or amethystine hue. Among
the
stones of the

colour

of purpura he

includes

the

amethysts of India. Further on he mentions the amethysts of India as having in perfection the richest shade of purple.

In Book ix. cap. 68, Pliny mentions that Cheper, who died in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, has left the following
remarks
denarii."
:

in favour, a

" In the days of my youth the violet purple was pound of which used to sell at one hundred

of a rich violet amethystine hue, such as 7 predominant colours of fluor spar.

7
ii.

All tends to show that the purpura of Pliny was is one of the

347) the best purple

According to Sir Gardner Wilkinson (" Kawlinson's Herodotus," was amethyst or violet colour.

K 2

132

ANTIQUE GEMS.

ONYX.

ORIENTAL ALABASTER.

The name onyx was originally, and sometimes in Pliny's time, as he tells us, given to the marble (Oriental alabaster,
carbonate of lime). At a later period the term restricted to the gem so called at the present day

onyx was and the

;

name

alabastrites

was applied

to the marble from

its

being

chiefly

employed

for atabastra, or

unguent

jars, it

having,

according to Pliny, the reputation of preserving unguents

from corruption. These alabastra were shaped like minute amphoras, but without handles. The Greeks, however, made
a more careful distinction in the appellation of the two stones, giving the name of ovvyiav to the gem, and of OVV^LTLS to the marble.

According to Pliny, onyx (Oriental alabaster) is found in the vicinity of Thebes in Egypt, and of Damascus in Syria, The most that of Damascus being whiter than the other.
esteemed kind, however, is that of Carmania, the next being the produce of India, and then those of Syria and Asia. The worst in quality is that of Cappadocia, it being utterly
destitute of lustre.

That which

is

of a honey colour

is

the

most

esteemed, covered with (vortices}, and not transparent.

it is

spots curling in whirls It is considered defective,

when

in appearance.

of a white or horn colour, or approaching to glass Drinking vessels were made of it at first,
feet of beds

and then the

relates

that great

and chairs. Cornelius Nepos was the astonishment when P. Lentulus

Spinther exhibited amphora3 made of this material as large " and as Chian wine vessels, yet, five years after," he says, " I saw columns of this material no less than thirty- two feet in height." Four small pillars of it were erected by Cornelius Balbus in his theatre, as something quite marvellous, >

ANTIQUE GEMS.
and
thirty

133

columns of larger

size

were erected in the

banqueting-room of Caliistus. " alabaster box of ointment " St. Mark's (aXa/Sdcrrpov " " nardi fj.vpov vapSov), and Horace's parvus onyx were of
this material.

In the passage of Propertius,

" " Et crocino nares murrhetts ungat onyx
(L.
iii.

El. x.)

" is the " murrheus onyx evidently also alabaster, the epithet " murrheus " from the resemblance of this onyx added, being in its winding zones and layers to those of the murrhina

or fluor spar.

The ointment was

sealed

up

in small ala-

baster jars. They were never to be opened, but to let the scent escape slowly and sparingly through the porous stone. From the above passage it would appear that the ointment

exuded through the porous alabaster, and anointed the The Egyptian squat jars, generally termed canopi, nostrils. which contained the principal intestines of the mummy they
In Sir John Soane's
are found in connexion with, are generally of this material. Museum is a sarcophagus cut out of a
single block of Oriental alabaster
;

it

is

covered inside as

well as outside with hieroglyphics. In the museum of the Vatican are some magnificent vases and baths of this
beautiful stone.

Superb examples of the magnificence of Caliistus in using columns of this beautiful material are still preserved in some of the older Roman churches, relics of the times
alluded to by Pliny, but none have ever approached to the magnitude of those presented by Mohammed AH to the new fabric of St. Paolo fuori le Mura, columns and pilasters, forty feet long, each of a single block and the most beautiful
quality.

Under

this

Pasha the ancient Egyptian quarries

134

ANTIQUE GEMS.

had been reopened, and furnished the material of which his sumptuous mausoleum at Cairo is exclusively constructed,
ft

piece

of

extravagance beyond the ambition of even

Nero. 8

BASANITES.

BASALT.
" have
discovered
in

The Egyptians," Pliny ./Ethiopia the stone known

and hardness resembles

"

writes,

as

basanites,'

which

in colour

iron,

whence the name has been

given to it. larger block of it has never been known than the one forming the group which has been dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus in the Temple of Peace.

with sixteen children sporting symbolical of the sixteen cubits, the extreme height to which, in the most favourable seasons, that river should rise."
It represents the river Nilus,
it,

around

here by Pliny is the stone day under the name of basalt, an igneous rock of a deep black, but showing a tinge of green when viewed at a certain angle, and of an extremely fine
basanites

The known

described

at the present

grain.
Intagli

and

scarabaei of a

very

late

period

among

the

Egyptians are to be
also

met with of this

material.

There are

some Gnostic amulets of

for statues

employed

It was frequently this stone. by the Egyptians, and by the Eomans

of the age of Hadrian. Basalt was also known as

Marmor

Tliebaicum.

PORPHYRITES LEPTOSEPHOS.

PORPHYRY.

The
the

" as porphyrites leptosephos, which Pliny describes production of Egypt, and of a red colour mottled
8

C.

W.

King, "Natural History of Geins,"

p. 21.

ANTIQUE GEMS.

135

with white blotches," is undoubtedly porphyry, a stone of a dark crimson ground, thickly disseminated with white Pliny further states that the quarries crystals of felspar.
in

Egypt are

able to furnish blocks of

any dimensions, howdate occasionally

ever large. Talismanic intagli of a late occur in this stone.

Roman

Under the Lower Empire

most sumptuous
edifices

it

was

largely employed in the

then erected, in the forms of columns, of labra for baths, and of sarcophagi. The Sarcophagus of the Empress Helena in the Vatican
is

made out of a

single block

19| palms high by 12 long

8 feet) of this stone, of the finest texture and deepest The sarcophagus of Constantia, daughter of Concolour.

(13

stantine,

is

also cut out of a single block of the

same stone

(7* X 5J feet). The lower parts of later Imperial busts, having the head alone in white marble or bronze, were occasionally carved

of this material.
It

was

also

employed by Italian
is

artists at

the Revival.

The

porphyrites of Pliny

the red marble

as rosso antico.

known among

the fragments found at

Rome

OPHITES.

SERPENTINE.

The ophites marble, which Pliny describes as marked with white streaks, which resemble serpents in appearance, and which derives its name from this, is identified with the and serpentine so frequently met with among Roman ruins, a dark of It is antico. which has been termed serpentino
dull-green colour, with long, whitish spots.

Egyptian

scarabasi,

bearing

hieroglyphics,

frequently

136

ANTIQUE GEMS.
Gems
of a late

occur of this material.

Roman

period are

sometimes met with in serpentine. 9

SYENITES.

GRANITE.

" In the " in Theneighbourhood of Syene," Pliny says, bais, there is a stone found that is now known as syenites,

but was formerly called pyrrho-paecilon." This can be no other than the well-known Egyptian stone, granite, a primitive rock

whose constituent parts are

felspar, quartz,

and

mica.

This red or Egyptian variety of granits (the red felspar predominating) was principally used by the Egyp" tians for their statues and obelisks. Monarchs," Pliny " have entered into a sort of writes, rivalry with one another in forming elongated blocks of this stone, known as 1 obelisks, and consecrated to the divinity of the sun."

The
is

variety of granite called at the present day syenite composed of felspar, quartz, and hornblende. Though

9 portion of an ancient dish, found at Ostia, of antigorite (serpentine), is in the possession of the author. 1 " The hieroglyphics in the obelisks are rather engraved than sculptured, and, judging from the minute manner in which they are exe-

we may suppose they adopted the same process as engravers, and even, in some instances, employed the wheel and drill. That they were acquainted with the use of emery powder is not at all
cuted,

improbable, since, being found in the islands of the Archipelago, it was within their reach ; and if this be admitted, we can account for the admirable finish and sharpness of the hieroglyphics on granite

monuments, and explain the reason of their preferring and more tempered steel, for it is evident the powder enters more readily into the former, and its

and

basaltic

tools of bronze to those of harder

action upon the stone is increased in proportion to the quantity retained by the point of the chisel, whence we prefer tools of soft iron " Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Ancient to hard steel for the same purpose."

Egyptians,"

vol.

ii.

p. 157.

ANTIQUE GEMS.
deriving
its

137

name from Syene,

in

Egypt, but

little

of

it is

met with

in that place, the rock there being chiefly granite.

The

of Syene.

syenites of antiquity was the red Egyptian granite It was the Ai'0os AI&OTTIKOS TTOLKL\O<S of Herodotus.

The large masses of granite from Syene for obelisks do not appear to have been conveyed to the lower parts of Egypt by the river Nile. They were taken by land. Herodotus, in mentioning one of the largest blocks ever cut

by

the Egyptians, says it was conveyed from Elephantine, or rather Syene, by land, during the reign of Amasis, to the
vicinity of Sais,

and that

it

employed 2000 men

for three

years.

The Egyptians were

objects in granite.

the only people

who engraved

small

Scarabasi bearing hieroglyphics of this material are frequently met with.

CATALOGUE
OF

GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES

IN THE

TOWNSHEND COLLECTION, SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.

1172.

DIAMOND.

In

the

native

state

an

octahedral

crystal, with the curved faces and the edges replaced, passing into a dodecahedron diam. J in. ; in claw
;

setting on a swing mount.

1173. Black

diam. \

Diamond. Nearly circular; brilliant cut; in. ; surrounded with fourteen small rose

diamonds in coronet mounting.

in. Silver setting Nearly circular, diam. on chased gold shank. 1 1 75. Green Brilliant. Round diam. i in. ; surrounded with twelve brilliants, double cut ; set in silver on a 11

74. Brilliant.

gold mounting.
1 This Catalogue is adapted, by permission, from that prepared by Mr. James Tennant for the Science and Art Department, with the mistakes corrected.

CATALOGUE, ETC.

139

1176. Sea-green Diamond. Brilliant cut ; T f in. byi in. ; with a rose diamond on each of the six points of the coronet setting.
1177. Yellow Diamond.

Circular ; diam. T ^ in., with eight rose diamonds, one on each point of the coronet

11

setting. 78. Pale Puce

Diamond.

Brilliant cut

3
ff

in.

by \

in.

surrounded with twelve small brilliants, set in silver

1179. Blue

on the open-work mounting. Diamond. Brilliant cut

surrounded with 12
-f-

6
;

in.

by

-/^ in.

18

brilliants.
;

1180.

Rock

Crystal.

Circular

brilliant cut

diam. ^

in.;

on a coronet mount with silver claws.

1181.

Smoky

Quartz.
;

Octagonal; cushion-cut face; back

;

9 ^| in. by T ^ in. coronet mount. 1182. Pale Yellow Quartz. Face with table and

facetted

step;

facets

culet

pointed,

and

culet-side

facetted

by -^ in., and |- thick ; on coronet mounting. 1183. Oval Yellow Quartz. Table cut; back facetted; 1 in. by J in. ; in a claw mount.
| in.

1184. Oval Yellow Quartz.

bezel
;

back with
in.,

facets,
in.

Face with table, and facetted and a pointed culet ; li in.

;

by li

and -^

thick

in coronet

mount.

1185. Yellow Quartz, with a feather. Oblong, cushion-cut with steps ; large facets on the back; 1-^ by in., and 1 J in. thick ; coronet-mounted handle.

1186.

Twin Stone
Each half

of Pale Yellow and Purple Quartz.

long-oval, facetted, and |-J in.

by

in.;

set in a plain

mount.

1187. Oval Biconvex Amethyst.

cavities with
1
in.

movable
and

fluid
in.

Containing four large and floating bubbles

;

by

in.,

thick

in

a plain swing

mount.

140

CATALOGUE
;

1188. Oval Amethyst. Cushion-cut a coronet mounting.

-|| in.

by \\

in.

in

1189. Heart-shaped

Amethyst.

Facetted on face
in coronet mount.

and

back

-^1

in.

by \\

in.

1190. Deep-coloured Oval Amethyst.

Face cushion-cut
and \
in.

back facetted ;

1 in.

by |

in.,

thick

in

coronet mounting. 1191. Amethyst. Rich in colour, and striped ; cushionin. cut face; facetted back; l-f^ in. by f-J in., and
thick
;

in a coronet mount.

1192. Amethyst.

Indian; of a delicate tint; table-cut, and facetted back cut in steps J in. by i in. ; surrounded with thirty-seven rose diamonds.
; ;

1193. Pale Yellow Quartz. Carved as a monkey's head, with a rosy tint in the nose ; J in. by -j% in. ; in a plain mount. 1194. Chrysoberyl.
|-

in.

by |

in.

Light yellowish green coronet mount. ;

brilliant cut

1195. Quartz.

Of a deep wine
;

colour, oval
-|

table-cut
in.

back facetted
1196. Plasma.

in.

by

in.,

and

-f^

thick

coronet mount.

Oval; engraved with a Cupid holding a 5 T ^ in. by J in.; in a plain butterfly over a torch mount. 1197. Plasma. Oval engraved with a Cupid resting on a
;
;

staff

in.

by i
in.

in.

coronet mount.
;

1198. Plasma.
figures, |

Long
*

oval

engraved with two female

1199. Chrysoprase.

Plain mounting. Oval-face; table-cut; back rounded;

by J
;

in.

\^

in.

by

in.

solid plain

mount.

1200. Chrysoprase.

Oval; engraved in high relief with a laurel- wreathed head ; ^f in. by T9^ in. plain mount.
;

OF GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

1201. Chrysoprase.

141

Nearly circular; diam. \

in.; in plain

mount.
1202. Chrysoprase. Oval ; cut en cabochou; J in a solid chased mounting.
1203. Chrysoprase. Oval; cut en cabochon; in a coronet mounting. 1204. Sapphirine.
in.

by by

-f^ in.

-J|.

in.

in.;

Oval
;

convex,
in.

engraved
-/^
in.
;

with

an

Olympian Zeus
mounting.
1205.

by

in a coronet

Amazon
-%
in.
;

Stone.

(Orthoclase Felspar.) Oval; Jin. by

in a plain

mount.

1206. Agate.

Oval; white, with a patch of brown, somewhat resembling the shape of a female head; in. by -fj in.; in a coronet mounting. Oval;
light brown,
9 r ^ in.;

1207. Agate.
lines;

with some concentric

\\

in.

by

perforated with two holes; in

coronet mounting. 1208. Amethyst and Chalcedony.

-jj in.

setting; by /^ ish-white (speckly) chalcedonic layer cut into a Panther, and a narrow border; the convex back of

in.

The

Oval; in an octagonal flat face has a brown-

amethyst
9 1209. Onyx. T g1210. Eye-Onyx.

is

engraved with a Bacchante; mounted

as a double

swing ring.

in.

by -^ in.; plain mount. Hemispherical; diam. % in.; in coronet

in.

mounting.
1211. Sardonyx.
-/^ in.
;

in plain solid

Oval; brown, white, and black; mount.

flat,

-|

by

1212. Sard.

Nearly square;

engraved with Oriental

in.

characters,

decorated with foliage ; |

in.

by f
5

in.

in a plain mounting.

1213. Moss Agate. Oval coronet mounting.

purplish;

|-

by T ^

in.;

in

142

CATALOGUE
Mocha Mocha
Stone.
1 in.

1214.
1215.

by |^

in.;

claw mounting.

Stone.

Oval; grey;

1 in.

by f by

in.; in plain

light mounting.

1216. Heliotrope.

Oval;

flat;

%\

in.

in.;

plain

mounting.
1217. Cat's Eye.

Honey

yellow; cut en cabochon; J

in.

and -% in. thick; coronet mounting. 3 1218. Cat's Eye. Brownish; cut en cabochon; T ^ in. by

by

in.,

in.; plain

mount.

1219. Cat's Eye.

Brownish; cut en cabochon and hollow; ||- in. by -f-g in.; surrounded by twenty brilliants, and with several roses on the pierced shoulders; all

set in silver on a gold shank. 1220. Precious Opal. Harlequin; heart-shaped; yf in. by T | in.; surrounded with forty-six diamonds; in

open-work mounting.
1221. Precious

Oval; f in. by | Opal. with thirty-four diamonds.

in.;

surrounded

1222. Precious Opal. Long pear-shaped ; -f% in. by -^in. ; in open, blue-enamelled coronet setting; surrounded

with twelve

brilliants.

Oval; -^ in. by -/- in.; surrounded with twenty-four brilliants; plain mounting. in. by -% in.; surrounded 1224. Precious Opal. Oval; with sixteen rose diamonds in open-work mounting.
1223. Precious Opal.
;

1225. Precious Opal.

in. by -^ in.; in claw -| blue enamel. with setting, 1226. Fire Opal. Long oval; f in. by fj in.; with blue enamel border on the gold setting. 5 1227. Fire Opal. Circular; diam. T ^in.; coronet mount, on carved shank.

Long

oval;

1228. Precious Opal. Oval; T J ing, with claws.

in.

by T g-

in.; plain

mount-

OF GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

1229. Precious Opal. 1230. Precious Opal.

143

Oval; J

in.

by

in.; plain

mount.
in.

T 2 in.; 1231. Precious Opal.

in simple
6

Oval; pale pinkish-grey; f in a light open coronet mounting.

by
in.;

Ovate; light purple; f

in.

by

-J-

mounting. 1232. Precious Opal. Oval; part white, part brown; |

in.

1233. Opal.

open-work setting. Oblong oval; dark brown; with play of green colour; -j-J in. by -| in.; coronet mounting. 1234. Opal. Heart-shaped; blue and grey; diam. i in.;

by T g-

in.; in

plain mounting.

1235. Semi-opal.
in.

| 1236. Semi-opal.

Nearly hemispherical; yellow, dendritic; open-work mount. by |

in.;

Circular; yellow; facetted; diam. -3^ in.;

plain open mounting.

1237. Lumachelle (Fire Marble). Oval; in a coronet mounting. 1238. Sapphire.

flaw; J| in.

flat; 1 in.

by f

in.;

1239. Sapphire. gthree brilliants and four small diamonds.

1240. Sapphire.
7

Long oval; en cabochon, prismatic by a 6 by T g- in.; in coronet setting. 5 Deep blue; T\ in. by T in.; set with

Circular; blue; diam. T ff in.; set with two pear-shaped brilliants, and ten small brilliants. 1241. Sapphire. Deep blue; globose oval; -fff in. by -/^in.; in plum mounting, with claws.

1242. Sapphire.

blue; egg-shaped; table-cut on 9 on back; in. by \ in., and T g- in. thick; in coronet mount.

Deep

face; facetted

1243. Star Sapphire. En cabochon; oval; \ in a plain mount.

in.

by T g-

in.;

1244. Star Sapphire.

With

silky
in.;

lustre;

octagonal;

en

cabochon; ff in. by seven small diamonds.

surrounded with forty-

144

CATALOGUE

1245. Star Sapphire. Hemispherical; pale blue; diam. \ in.; surrounded with two circles of diamonds.
1246. Star Sapphire. Nearly hemispherical in coronet mounting.
;

diam. -^

in.;

1247. Violet Sapphire (Oriental Amethyst). Octagonaloblong, facetted ; /ff in. by f in. ; surrounded with
forty diamonds.

1248. Sapphire.
-^g-

Amethystine.

Cushion-cut
3

in.

by

in.

in coronet mounting.

1249. Ruby.

Nearly square; J
brilliants
;

in.

by T ^
;

in.;

surrounded

with

open-work mounting.
;

1250. Star Ruby.

Pale

hemispherical

7 diam. T g-

in.

plain mounting, with claws. 1251. Star Ruby. Oval, en cabochon

-J.J

in.
;

by |

in.;

surrounded with thirty-three diamonds

open-work

mounting. 1252. Ruby. Sub-ovate; f in. by -| in.; surrounded with twelve diamonds ; coronet mount.
1253. Ruby.

Oblong; cushion-cut; J in. by rounded with twenty-four diamonds

mounting.
7

-/^ in.;
;

sur-

open-work
5

1254. Ruby.

Oblong; cushion-cut; T - in. by T g- in.; surrounded with twenty-four diamonds ; open-work mount. 5 1255. Ruby. Circular; facetted; diam. T ^ in.; surrounded
with twenty diamonds; open-work mounting.
1256. Yellow Sapphire
cushion-cut; J
in.

(Oriental Topaz).

Oval-oblong;

by T g-

in.,

and

5 in. thick; coronet

mount.
1257. White Sapphire (Lux Sapphire). in. ; light coronet mount. J-l

Octagonal; diam.

1258. Chatoyant Sapphire. Translucent, brown chatoyant, with a patch of grey light at one end, and iri-

OF GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

descent by a flaw; en cabochon;
in coronet
-f% in.

145

by

in.;

mount.

1259. Sapphire.

Wine-coloured; translucent; en cabochon;

dia-

5 by T ^ in.; surrounded with sixteen rose monds on a swing mount.

in.

1260. Sapphire.

Salmon-coloured
;

translucent

oblong

5 7 surrounded with thirty-four T g- in. by T g- in. diamonds; plain mounting.

1261. Turquoise. Circular; of greenish tint ; -~ 2 in. diam.; cut with a female head in relief ; solid mount.
1262. Turquoise.
9 -g ^ in.
;

Rich blue; oval; en cabochon

r

in.

by
set

surrounded with

thirtj -four diamonds.

in.

1263. Turquoise.

round
mount.

Oval; en cabochon ; J with fourteen brilliants

by i

in.;

in

open-work

1264. Turquoise. Oval; en cabochon; ~% a thick plaited ring.

1265. Turquoise.
9
-2

in.

by
;

in.; in

? in.; solid

Oval; deep blue mount.

nearly

flat

| in.

by

1266. Turquoise. Heart-shaped ; inlaid with a narrow border and numerous irregular lines of gold; f in. by i in. ; in coronet mount.

1267. Kyanite.
oval
;

Pale

violet,

with oblique
in.

lines

of cleavage;

en cabochon; J Pale blue

in.
;

by

in light -f^ in.;

claw

mount.
1268. Kyanite.
;

in.

by i

in a plain
;

narrow oblong; en cabochon; claw mount.

facetted
;

1269. Carbuncle.

Round

diam.

in.

sur-

rounded with nine

1270. Carbuncle.
in.
;

brilliants.
foil
;

En

cabochon, and set on

-J^-

in.

by

f 1271. Almandine. Nearly circular; facetted; in a coronet mount.

in a solid claw mount.

-|J in.

by -|J

in.;

146

CATALOGUE
En
cabochon, and

1272. Almandine.

hollow; yf

in.

by

in.

engraved with a Faun, in plain mountOctagonal; face with table and facetted -^ in.; in a claw mount.

ing.

1273. Almandine.

stone; diam.

1274. Precious Garnet.

Brown; oblong; J|in. by^in.; surrounded with forty-seven diamonds. 1275. Precious Garnet. Rich brown; facetted; Jf in. by i n & coronet mount. -/2 in-5
1276. Cluster of Seven Stones of Precious Garnet.
plain mounting.

In a

1277. Almandine.

Oblong ; table-cut; \ in. by \ in.; surrounded with forty-four diamonds; open-work

mounting.
Scutcheon-shaped; in a claw mount.
flat;

1278. Almandine.

-^

in.

by T j

in.;

1279. Garnet.

Deep wine-coloured
a coronet mount.

cushion-cut; f in.

by

ff

in.; in

1280. Essonite.
1281. Essonite.
ting.

Square; diam. \ in. in coronet mount. Octagonal; diam. ^jin.; in coronet set;

1282. Essonite.

1283. Emerald.

Oblong; -j-in. by Jin.; plain mounting. Flat; fj in. by || in.; engraved with Oriental characters; set in a coronet mount.

1284. Emerald.

Square; set lozenge- wise diam. -^ in surrounded with thirty-six diamonds.

;

1285. Star

Emerald.

Showing

six

rays;

sub-globular,

with face and back centrally flattened; diam. Jin.;

in plain swing.

1286. Beryl.
facets
in.;

Circular; with large table, surrounded with culet-side facetted in squares; diam. \\\ ;
in.

1-J-

thick; coronet mounted.

1287. Beryl.

Oval; with large table and numerous facets;

OF GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES,

back facetted
1288. Aquamarine.
;

147

1 7

T^

in.

by

in.,

and

-|-J

in.

thick

coronet mounted.

round

it

culet-side cut
1 in.

Oval; with large table, and facets with square facets ; !} in.
thick; coronet mounted.
face

by 1J in.; 1289. Aquamarine.

by 1290. Aquamarine.
1291. Euclase.

Long oblong;

with table and

;

brilliant facets; -1 in.

back ridged and facetted with steps in. thick; in coronet mount. s in.;

Nearly square; J
setting.
in.

in.

by

-Ji in.;

in

open coronet

-$

by -^

in.;

1292. Labradorite.
in a

Circular; slightly convex

coronet mounting. ; diam. -/gin.

in.;

claw mount.

1293. Sunstone.
solid
]

Oval; encabochon; -^

by ^
in.

in.;

in

mounting.

294. Moonstone.
in a plain

Oval ; cut en cabochon mount.

by -%

in.

1295. Black
|
in.

Tourmaline.

by

in.;

Nearly square; coronet mounting.

cushion-cut;
diam.

1296. Crystal of Apophyllite. Truncated pyramid -% in.; in a claw mount.

1297. Chrysoberyl.
-

Nearly circular; cushion-cut;

in.

5 by T in.; in a coronet mount. 1298. Green Jargoon. Long oval;

in.

by

-/g-

in.; in

light plain claw.

1299. Peridot. Oval; f 8 1300. Peridot. Diam. T ^

dite

in.

by J

in.; plain

mounting.

and

tree,

engraved with an hermaphroand the name of the artist, Calanin.;

;

drelli, in

Greek characters

plain mount.

1301. Peridot.

Octagonal oblong; table-cut, with side back facetted with steps; 1 J in. by 1 in.; facets;
coronet mounting.

1302. Peridot.

Bounded oblong;
L 2

face cushion-cut; back

148

CATALOGUE
facetted
solid
;

\\

in.

by T ^

in.,

5 and T ^

in.

thick

in a

mount.

1303. Peridot.

Oblong; face slightly convex; table-cut, culet and culet-side with one facet all round rounded, the back being barrel-shaped, with
;

facetted ends;

\\

in.

by

-}i in.,

and f

in.

thick;

coronet mount.

1304. Chrysoberyl.
-J-J

in.

by

Light yellowish green; brilliant-cut; open coronet mount.

in.

1305. Jargoon. Pale milky; -% in a plain mount.

1

by J

in.; brilliant-cut;

Oval carved in high relief 306. Hyacinthine Garnet. with bust -J-J in. by -J in.; in plain mounting. 1307. Hyacinthine Garnet. Oblong; -^ in. by -J in.; in
; ;

light coronet setting.

1308. White Topaz. Nearly square; brilliant-cut; diam. 7 in. in coronet ; mounting. T g1309. Topaz.

Deep purplish pink;

in.
;

oblong, table-cut

if
;

in.

by \

surrounded with thirty-four diamonds

in

open-work mounting. 1310. Yellow Topaz. Cushion-cut; -j-J in. by -| in.; surrounded with thirty-six diamonds ; open-work
mounting. 1311. Yellow Topaz.
table
in steps; 1J in.

Narrow oblong;
;

cut with

oblong

and step-facets

culet-ridged,

and culet-side
thick; coronet

by

in.,

and T5^
J-

in.

mount.
1312. Yellow
Sapphire. coronet mount.

Oval;

in.

by \

in.;

open

1313. Yellow Topaz.

cushion-cut,

Oblong, with slightly rounded sides; with long angular facets; facetted with steps on back -j| in. by \\ in., and -/? in. thick ; in coronet mount.
;

OF GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

1314. Yellow Topaz.
;

149

Octagonal oblong step-cut; flawed with parallel cleavage-planes; T9^ in. by T6^ in.; solid mounting with four claws.

1315. Topaz.

\ in. by -^ 1316. Blue Topaz. J

in.

Oval; pale bright bronze; in.; coronet mount. Oval;

;

brilliant-cut;

cushion-cut;
thick
;

back

facetted;

by

-if in.

-J--1

in coronet
in.

mount.

by J in.; surrounded open-work mounting. 1318. Burnt Topaz. Oblong; cushion-cut; back facetted J in. by -fs in. ; coronet mount.
Oblong; -| with thirty-six diamonds
;
;

1317. Pink Topaz.

1319. Blue Tourmaline (Indicolite). by -fj in. ; coronet mount.

1320.

Oval facetted; f

in.

Red Tourmaline
vex
;

(Rubellite).
;

Circular, slightly con;

facetted

flat

at

back

diam. j

in.

in

coronet mount.

1321. Green Tourmaline.

Octagonal oblong;

in.

by

-~

in.

coronet mount.

1322. Green Jargoon.

/2-

in.

by \

in.

in plain

Cushion-cut face; facetted back; claw mount.

1323. Green Tourmaline.

facetted in steps
;

Oblong; face cushion-cut, and back with steps facetted ; 1 in.

;

by f in., and -f% in. thick 1324. Lapis-lazuli. Oval, flat;

mount.

coronet mount.
in.

by

in.; in

a solid

5 1325. Blue Spinel. Facetted; -| in. by T surrounded g- in.; with eighteen diamonds ; in open-work mounting. 7 1326. Spinel. Oblong; cushion-cut; T ^ in. by f in.; sur-

rounded with sixty-seven diamonds mounting.

in

open-work

1327. Spinel Square; diam. J in.; step-cut; surrounded with thirty-six brilliants; set lozenge-wise on a plain mount.

150

CATALOGUE, ETC.

1328. Cymophane. Circular; en cabochon; diam. f in.; surrounded with sixteen diamonds ; in open-work

mounting.
1

329. Cymophane. 1330. Cymophane.

| in. by -fs in. coronet mount. Oval \\ in. by | in.; surrounded with
; ;

twenty-eight brilliants ; in plain mount with claws. 1331. Cymophane. Greenish brown ; biconvex ; diam. -j-J coronet mount.
;

1332. Cymophane.
plain mount.

Oval; en cabochon;

J-J

in.

by T ^

in.;

1333. Cymophane.

Dark green

in.

by
\

in.;

coronet

mount.
1334. Malachite.

Hemispherical;

diam.

in.;

coronet

mount.
1335. Marcasite.

Heart-shaped; facetted; \ in. by \ in.; coronet mounting. light 1336. Crocidolite. Dark bluish green; oblong; en cabochon in. by -fa in. coronet mount. -fg
;

1337. Pearl.

Diam.

-f% in.; set

with

brilliants.

1338. Black Pearl.

Round; diam.
Diam.
-J

J in.; plain mounting

with claws.
1

339. Pink Pearl.

in.

in claw setting.

1340. White Pearl.

four claws.

Short-ovate;

diam. i

in.;

held by

ANTIQUE GEMS
BLACAS COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM.

CAMEI.

THE

bust of Augustus, with the aegis on the breast.

in.

cameo of an oval form, measuring 5i

sardonyx of three layers.
lection.

by 3^

in.

A A

Formerly

in the Strozzi Col-

this

Augustus, with the Capricorn, the sign of the nativity of Emperor. Onyx cameo.
Julia, the daughter of Augustus,

crowned with poppies.

of two layers,

Onyx of three layers. The young Germanicus.

inscribed

Onyx cameo

EHITYrX.
full- face.

Claudius Drusus,

Cameo on onyx.
full-face.

Bust of the young Tiberius,

layers.

Onyx
Onyx

of two

Head
layers.

of Drusilla,

sister

of Caligula.

of three

Bust of the Empress Messalina. Fragment of a large onyx cameo of three layers.

152

ANTIQUE GEMS
of Claudius.

Head

Onyx

of three layers.

Bust of Elagabulus. Onyx of three layers. Bust of Carus. Onyx of three layers. Bust of the elder Licinius, two layers.
portraits of a king
full-face, in

high

relief.

Onyx,

Busts of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoe

or probably

and queen of the Macedonian period.

Circular onyx of three layers,

Onyx

of two layers.
in diameter.

Victory in a quadriga.

and nearly two inches

Pallas

Athene

in a biga,

on her shield the Gorgon.

Oval

onyx of three layers.

Satyr dancing, brandishing a thyrsus.
layers.

Oval onyx, three

2|-

Head of Medusa,
in.

cut out of an amethyst, measuring

by 2

in.

Victory driving a quadriga. Oval onyx of five layers. Jupiter, disguised as a Satyr, surprising Antiope. Onyx,

two

layers.
;

Dramatic rehearsal

three youths

are chanting from a

oook, another playing on the double flute, the third beating time. Onyx, three layers.

Centauress suckling her young. Onyx, broken. Lion seizing a horse. Onyx, two layers. Horse. Onyx, two layers.

Fragment of a winged Pegasus.

Satyr giving drink to a panther.

Onyx, three layers. Onyx, two layers.

Comic mask.

Onyx.
Sard.

Head

of Silenus.

INTAGLI.

Head of Hercules,

inscribed

TNAIOC.

Beryl.

IN THE BLACAS COLLECTION'.

Head
by
1 in.

153

of Medusa, inscribed 2OAQNOC. diam. Grey chalcedony.

of Pan, inscribed

1^ in. in

length

of ^Esculapius, inscribed Bust of Victory. Sard.

Mask Head Head Head

2KYAAE.

Amethyst.

of Medusa.

Sard.

of Medusa.

Amethyst.

AYAOY.

Sard.

cippus supporting Nicolo.

Terpsichore, standing, tuning her lyre, and backed by a a statuette, inscribed AAAIITNOC.

Apollo Citharoedus, his right elbow resting on a small draped female figure ; deeply cut on a beautiful hyacinthine
garnet.
Achilles, seated in his tent, playing the lyre, inscribed

HAM^IAOY.
inscribed

Sardoine.

Seated Sphinx, scratching her ear with her hind paw,

0AMYPOY.

Sard.

Hercules Bibax, inscribed

AAMIUN.
Essonite.

Golden

sard.

Young Faun,

front face.

Bacchante overpowered by the influence of her god, and attempting to stay herself by catching an amphora.
Sard.

Bust of Melpomene, contemplating a mask. Sard. Dolon grasping the knees of Ulysses whilst Diomede
about to strike off his head, inscribed HEIOY.
Sard.

is

Mounted
Meleager
agate.

hunter, inscribed

XPYClC.

Sard.
boar.

attacking

the

Calydonian

Banded

reverse

Triangular amulet; on one side Eros and Anteros; on the two Sirens, one playing on the lyre, the other on
Sard.

the double flute.

Horse grazing. Black agate. Lion looking to the front. Nicolo.

154

ANTIQUE GEMS

HISTORICAL PORTRAITS IN INTAGLIO. Perseus, King of Macedon. Lapis-lazuli. Juba II., King of Mauretania. Sard. Head, attributed to Jugurtha. Yellow sard.
inscribed AMXE>O.

Head, wrongly ascribed to Rhremetalkes, King of Pontus, Black jasper.

Julius Cassar, full face, inscribed

cinthine garnet. Julius Caesar.

AIO2KOPIAO2.

Hya-

Sardoine.

Livia Augusta, her head veiled, and wheat-crowned as a Ceres ; surrounded by seven groups in relief of objects, the

recognized attributes of

all

the other goddesses.

Agate

onyx.
Livia, with the attributes of Ceres, in a car

drawn by
up by a

Yellow sard. elephants. Portraits of Germanicus and Agrippina, held

Victory. Galba.

Onyx.
Sard.

Sard. Vespasian. Hadrian. Sard.

Sabina, inscribed

ANTIOXIC.

Sard.

Heads of Commodus and Hercules.

Caracalla
;

Sard.

on the reverse Plautilla.

Nicolo.

Called Caracalla, but supposed with more probability to be Galerius Maximian 2 in. by 1| in. Onyx, two layers.
;

Head

of Gordian.

Sard.

Heads of Carinus and Magnia Urbica.

Silanus and Messalina.

Red jasper.

Red jasper.

Plato with Psyche-wings attached to his temples, and Sardoine. represented as a terminal bust. Horace. In the field the letter H. Yellow quartz. Herodes Atticus. Sard.
Posidonius.
Sard.

IN THE BLACAS COLLECTION.

ETRUSCAN AND ARCHAIC SCARAB^EI.
Herakles slaying Kyknos, inscribed Etruscan characters. Burnt sard.

155

HEPKAE KYKNE

in

Herakles approaching the warm springs of Himera, indiBurnt cated by a stream issuing from a lion's mouth.
amethyst.

Herakles seated on the funeral

pile.

Banded

agate.

Kapaneus struck by a thunderbolt, kneeling on one knee ; on the back of the Scarabseus, in low relief, a male figure,
from whose
left

A warrior
Orion.

arm hangs a vase. Banded agate. kneeling, armed with a bow and club

a ser-

pent approaches to bite his foot.

Sard.

This figure has been called

Patroklos taking leave of Achilles on going to battle. Sard.

Herakles and Hermes.

Sard.

Wounded
ploring his

warrior at the feet of another warrior, imrecognized by his dog.

Banded agate. life. Ulysses, entering his house, Sard.

Apollo holding out a faun.
Sard.

is

Sard.

Apollo Hyakinthios. Hermes kneeling on a tortoise.

'

Sard.

Sard. Tantalus trying to drink. Danaides carrying water-pitchers.

Sard.

Sisyphus.

Sard.

Head of the Indian Bacchus.

Green

jasper.

DEVONSHIRE GEMS.

AMONG

the most remarkable antique

:

gems

in the

Devon-

shire Parure are the following

THE COMB.
Head
of Leander.

Onyx

cameo.

Bacchante and Centaur.

Onyx

cameo.

Bust of King Shahpur.

Intaglio.

Amethyst.
cameo.

Faun dancing a young

faun.

Onyx

THE STOMACHER.
Head Head
of Silenus.

Garnet cameo.

Hyacinthiue garnet. Hercules strangling the giant Antaeus.

sitting

of Medusa.

Cameo.
Intaglio.

Hya-

cin thine garnet.

Tiberius,

on a throne by the side of a veiled

female, presenting a sword to a warrior (Drusus) before him. Onyx cameo.

1

who

stands

See Frontispiece.

DEVONSHIRE GEMS.
The Emperor Alexander.
Mars.
Lapis-lazuli.

157

Agathe-onyx cameo.

Clotho, the youngest of the three Fates.

Onyx
Sard.

cameo.

Ganymede feeding an eagle. Head

of Cupid.
Intaglio.

Intaglio.

Sard.

THE BANDEAU.
Faun crowned with vine. Intaglio. Ruby. Head of Augustus. Intaglio. Sapphire. Head of Medusa. Cameo. Emerald. Diomed stealing the Palladium, inscribed AIO2KOYPIAOY.
Intaglio.

Sard.
Intaglio.

Minerva Victrix.

Plasma.

Head of Silenus. Cameo. Venus and Cupid. Ruby.

Hyacinthine garnet.

THE BRACELET.
Terpsichore tuning a lyre.
Intaglio.

Garnet.

THE NECKLACE.
Daedalus.
Intaglio.

Sard.

Head

of ^Esculapius. Intaglio. Garnet. Julia Sabina, wife of Hadrian. Intaglio. Venus Victrix. Onyx cameo.

Garnet.

The Emperor Tiberius. Onyx cameo. Head of Mars. Intaglio. Sard. Head of Apollo. Intaglio. Sard.

158

DEVONSHIRE GEMS.
THE DIADEM.

Head
Lion.

of Socrates.

Intaglio.

Sard.

Apollo with the

lyre.

Intaglio.

Garnet.

Onyx. Emperor Commodus. Cameo. Onyx. A figure in a chariot with two horses. 2 Cameo. A figure in a chariot with two horses. Cameo onyx. Dancing figure of a Bacchante. Intaglio. Sard.

Cameo.

THE CORONET.
Bust of
Clytia.

Cameo.

Onyx.
Intaglio.

A Dancing Bacchante.

Sard.

The Emperor Severus. Cameo. Amethyst. Head of Hercules. Intaglio. Lapis-lazuli. Head of Apollo. Intaglio. Amethyst.
Achilles at the

tomb of Patroclus.

Intaglio.

Sard.

Among
at the

those exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, Loan Exhibition, 1872, the following are the most
:

remarkable
Sard.

Theseus standing regarding his father's sword.

Sard. Scylla slaying a mariner. Achilles Citharosdus, inscribed HAM^IAOY.

Intaglio.

Sard.

The ground dark

horse brown and white, with the

one of the horses of a bluish tinge, the other mane blue ; the figure is blue with

brown drapery.

DEVONSHIRE GEMS.

159

Diomede, master of the Palladium, inscribed TNAIO2.

Banded

agate.

Muse

Tiberius,

seated in a chair, tuning her lyre. when young. Sard.

Sard.

A cow lying down,

inscribed

AIIOAAONIAOY.

Onyx.

THE following extract from The Times, of Sept. 25, may " prove not uninteresting to readers of this Manual valuable addition has just been made to the collection of
:

gems in the British Museum, through the acquirement by purchase of a splendid specimen of the Zircon or Jacinth. It cost upwards of 700/., and is no larger than a common
garden pea. It is one of the finest known. It flashes and glows with a red lustre which seems to denote the actual
fire and flame." notice has, however, since appeared in The Times to say that the price was not more than 70/.

presence of

We
this

are in a position to state, on the best authority, that

Jacinth weighs about 3 carats, and cost 121.

INDEX.
Achates, 108,
Beryl, 25, 70. Beryllus, 70. Black jasper, 111. Black tourmaline, 30. Blue crystal, 41. Blue topaz, 26.

Adamas,

58.

w?Egyptilla, 104. Agalmatolite, 35.

Agate, 47, 102, 108. Agate of the Salute Chapelle,98.

Agathe-onyx, 46.
Alabaster, 132. Almandine ruby, 18, 66.

Blue tourmaline, 30.

Bohemian garnet,

21.

Amazon

garnet, 21, 72. stone, 31, 79. Amber, 55, 117. Amethyst, 40, 86. Amethystus, 86. Anthracites, 85.

Bort, 9. Brazilian diamonds, 2. sapphire, 26. ruby, 27.

emerald, 30. Brecciated agate, 49.

Brilliants, 4.

"Avepat, 71.

Brunswick vase, 101.

Cabochon, 17. Cacholong, 39.
Callais, 81. Callaina, 81.

Aquamarine, 25.
Asteria, 17, 66. Astrion, 65. Astrobolos, 110.

Augustus (Blacas cameo), 101.

Austrian diamond, Avanturine, 42, 90.
Azurite, 53, 114.
7.

Camei, 97. Cameo, Carpegna, 98. of the Sainte Chapelle

98.

Balas ruby, 18, 66.

Banded

agate, 46, 103. Basalt, 134. Basanites, 134. Beli-oculus, 104.

Bel-occhio, 50.

Berguem, Louis van,

5.

of Vienna, 98. Marlborough, 99. Farnese, 100. Gonzaga, 100. Augustus, 101. Cape diamonds, 3. Carbuncle, 21.

162

INDEX.

Carbunculus Indie us, 62. Carbunculus garamanticus, 62,

71.

Carbonado, 9. Carchedonia, 72.

Carchesium of

St. Denis, 100.

Carnelian, 44, 91.

Carpegna, cameo, 98.

Cat's eye, 50, 110. Ceraunia, 66. Chalcedony, 43, 106. Chalcedonyx, 45, 101.
Chalchituitl, 31, 81.

Chalco-smaragdus, 68. Chatoyant sapphire, 17.

Chessylite, 53.

Chryselectrum, 74.
Chryselectri, 89.

Chrysoberyl, 19, 65.

INDEX.
Hyacinthine garnet, 21, 74, 77.

163

164

INDEX.
Sapphire, 13, 63. white, 15. yellow, 16, 65.
violet, 16. green, 16.
star, 17, 65.

Pink topaz, 27. Pitt diamond, 7. Plasma, 46, 105. di smeraldo, 47, 105. Poenamu, 34.
Porcelain jasper, 52.
Porcellanite, 52. Porphyrites, 135.

girasol, 17.

leptosephos, 134. Porphyry, 135. Prase, 43, 106. Prasius, 105, 113.

chatoyant, 17. opalescent, 17.

d'eau, 30.

sangnineis punctis,106. Precious garnet, 20.

opal, 38. spinel, 18. Punctum lapidis, 60. Purpura, 131. Pyrope, 21.

de France, 41. Sapphirine, 43, 106. Sarcophagus, 133, 135.

Sard, 44, 48, 91. Sardachates, 109. Sardius, 91. Sardoine, 44, 93.

Sardonyx, 45, 94.

Scarabsei, 108, 112, 114, 116, 134, 135, 137. Schorl, 30. Selenite, 36, 79. Selenitis, 79. Serpentine, 135. Sicilian agate, 48, 108. jasper, 51. Siderite, 29. Siriam garnet, 21. Smaragdus, 67.
115,

Quartz vitreous, 40.

chalcedonic, 43.
jaspery, 50. violet, 40.

yellow, 41, 89.

rose, 41.

smoky, 42.

iridescent, 84.

Eed chalcedony,

44. jasper, 111. sapphire, 10.

7.

Scythian, 18, 67. Bactrian, 67.

Kegent diamond, Eibbon agate, 49.

Eock

jasper, 51. crystal, 40.

4.

Egyptian, 67. medicus, 114. Smaragdachates, 109.

quartz, 42. 78. Sphragis, 112. Spinel ruby, 18, 62.

Smoky
Solis

Eose diamond,

gemma,

quartz, 41.

Rosso antico, 135. Eubasse, 42.

Eubellite, 29. Eubicelle, 18.

Spinels, 18.

Star of the South, 8. of South Africa,

sapphire, 17, 65.

8.

Euby,

10, 62.

of the

Shah of Persia, 11.

ruby, 17. garnet, 21, 73.

Steatite, 36.

Sandaresos, 91. Sandastros (male), 79.

(female), 96.

Succinum, 117.

Sun

opal, 39.

Sangenon, 84.
Sappheiros, 15. Sapphirus, 77.

Sunstone, 31, 79, 91.

Syenites, 136.
Syrtites, 72.

INDEX.
Tanos, 81. Tazza Farnese, 100. Terebinthyusa (jaspis), 106. Topaz, 26.
oriental, 26.

165

occidental, 26. blue, 26. white, 27.

LONDON

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

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